Ballard (surname)

Ballard is a surname of English origin. It likely derives from Middle English "ball," meaning "white spot," plus the suffix "-ard," and would therefore mean "bald head." Indeed, Wyclif translated 2 Kings 2:23 as "Stye up, ballard," where Coverdale translated the same passage as "Come up here thou balde head."

There are other sources for this name, besides the Anglo-Saxon. Not all people bearing the name are of English origins. It is common, with native etymology among several Celtic nations, although the British Celtic form is likely the original, and it may be that "Bald head" is a false etymology designed to give the name English roots. The earliest form is Ap Alard, meaning the "son of the fox" in Welsh, and it passed from Wales to Brittany as Aballard, whence it became popular in France under the form Aballaird, and thence to Spain.

People with the surname Ballard

Arts, music, and writing

Military and politics

Science and medicine

  • Claudius Ballard (1890–1967), American physician
  • Dana H. Ballard (born 1946), American computer scientist and vision researcher
  • Edward Ballard (1820–1897), English physician
  • Geoffrey Ballard (businessman) (1932–2008), Canadian geophysicist and entrepreneur
  • Guy Ballard (1878–1939), American mining engineer and Theosophist
  • Martha Ballard (c. 1734–1812), American midwife and diarist
  • Robert Ballard (born 1942), American marine geologist and submarine explorer
  • Sarah Ballard (1983 or 1984–), astronomer

Sports

Other

  • Adolphus Ballard (1867–1915), English historian
  • Harold Ballard (1903–90), Canadian businessman
  • John Ballard (died 1586), English Jesuit priest
  • M. Russell Ballard (born 1928), American businessman and Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  • Melvin J. Ballard (1873–1939), American Apostle of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints
  • William Rankin Ballard (1847–1929), American banker and land developer
  • Ernest Jackson Ballard, Jr. (1920-2013), American electrical engineer and manager of electric power cooperatives in the western US
gollark: ++remind 1h guess (real)
gollark: People have lots of reasons to believe I'm right.
gollark: So people can't know them when guessing themselves.
gollark: I will be releasing the hash of them at some point.
gollark: Since it wouldn't work, it would be irrational to, so you shouldn't.
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