Gardner (surname)

Gardner
Coat of Arms of Baron Gardner (1800–1883).
Pronunciation/ˈɡɑːdnə/
LanguageEnglish
Origin
Languages1. Old French
2. Old English
Derivation1. gardinier
2. gar + dyn'
Meaning1. "gardener"
2. "weapon" + "sound", "alarm"
Other names
Variant formsGardyner
Gardener
Gardenar
Gardinier
Gardiner
CognatesGairnéir; Gairdner
Related namesGarner

Gardner is a surname of English, Scottish and Irish origin.[1][2] Variant spellings include Gardyner, Gardener, Gardenar, Gardinier, Gardiner, and Gardner; the last two are the most common today.[3]

Some of the earliest recorded uses of the name Gardner are Anger Gardiner (Lincolnshire, pre-1166),[4] William le Gardinier (Rutland, 1199),[5] Geoffrey le Gardiner (Oxfordshire, 1273), Richard le Gardiner (Cambridgeshire, 1273), Ralph le Gardener (Huntingdonshire, 1273),[6] and Walter le Gardiner (London, 1292).[2][7][8] Contemporaneous use of the surname features most prominently in Essex, Lancashire, Warwickshire, and Perthshire.[9]

History

Most sources attest that "Gardner" is an occupational surname from Middle English meaning "gardener", derived from the Old Norman word gardinier (French: jardinier).[7][10] Some onomasticians attest an earlier origin from the Anglo-Saxon period attributed to the Old English word gar-dyn (meaning "warrior" or "one who bears arms"), a term whose roots are shared with the Gaelic word gairden ("enclosed or fortified place").[11][3] In spite of the latter, the Gaelic form of the surname used in Ireland following the Norman Conquest of England was Mac Gairnéir ("gardener").[12]

There is a tradition[11] held by some of the descendants of the Crusader William Gardiner (son of Benoni), son of George of Newport, that William won his crest at Acre in 1191, by chopping through the shoulder of a Saracen who was about to kill Richard Coeur de Lion or Richard the Lionheart, hence the Saracen's head on the coat of arms.

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Fictional characters

See also

References

  1. ↑ "Gardner Name Meaning & Gardner Family History at Ancestry.com". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 2026-05-02.
  2. 1 2 "Gardner History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms". HouseOfNames.com. Archived from the original on 2026-05-02. Retrieved 2026-05-02.
  3. 1 2 Edwin L. "Ted" Gardner Jr. (May 8, 1999). "Origin of the Gardner Surname". The Gard(i)ners and Their Name. Archived from the original on November 18, 2007.
  4. ↑ Hatton, Sir Christopher (1950) [original manuscript dated c. 1640]. "198". In Loyd, Lewis Christopher; Stenton, Doris Mary (eds.). Sir Christopher Hatton's Book of Seals (in English and Latin). Northampton: Northamptonshire Record Society. p. 142. Angerus gardiner.
  5. ↑ Cannon, Henry Lewin, ed. (1918) [1833–44]. The Great Roll of the Pipe for the Twenty-Sixth Year of Henry the Third. Pipe Rolls: Record Commission. Vol. 1–3. London: Pipe Roll Society. LCCN 20004083. OCLC 01376206. OL 20462994M – via Yale University Press.
  6. ↑ Bardsley, Charles Wareing Endell (1988) [Originally published by Oxford University Press, London, 1901]. Bardsley, Annie (ed.). A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Ramsbury, Wiltshire: Heraldry Today. ISBN 978-0-900455-44-5. OCLC 27076282. OL 53538452M.
  7. 1 2 Reaney, Percy Hide; Wilson, Richard Middlewood (26 September 1991). A Dictionary of English Surnames (3rd ed.). London: Routledge. p. 1270. ISBN 978-0-415-05737-0. LCCN 90046497. OCLC 252812681. OL 1885468M. ONFr *gardinier corresponding to OFr, modFr jardinier 'gardener' (a1325 MED). Walter le gardiner (1292 SRLo) was a fruiterer. Gairdner is Scottish. v. GARNER.
  8. ↑ Unwin, George (1918) [1870–1925], Finance and Trade Under Edward III, Subsidy Rolls, Manchester: University of Manchester, p. 82, LCCN 19006954, OCLC 1045377118, OL 7236931M
  9. ↑ Guppy, Henry Brougham (1890). Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. London: Harrison and Sons. LCCN 04002225. At present best represented in Essex, Lancashire, and Warwickshire. Both forms occur in southern and central Scotland, especially in Perthshire.
  10. ↑ Hanks, Patrick; Lenarčič, Simon; McClure, Peter, eds. (August 2022). Dictionary of American Family Names (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press, USA. doi:10.1093/acref/9780190245115.001.0001. ISBN 978-0-19-024511-5. LCCN 2022034625. OCLC 1338303810. OL 38015372M. English and Scottish: occupational name from Middle English gardener 'gardener', Old French gardinier, jardinier.
  11. 1 2 "Gardiner-Gardner Family History". FamilySearch. 31 July 2013. Retrieved 6 May 2026.
  12. ↑ "Gáirnéir – Irish Names and Surnames". www.libraryireland.com. Retrieved 2022-09-17.
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