Ballard (surname)

Last updated May 24, 2024

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

Agnes Ballard (1877–1969), American architect and educator
Alimi Ballard (born 1977), American actor
Clint Ballard Jr. (1931–2008), American songwriter
Edward George Ballard (1791–1860) English miscellaneous writer
Florence Ballard (1943–1976), American pop singer
Frank Ballard (1929–2010), American puppeteer
Frankie Ballard (born 1982), American country music singer
George Ballard (c. 1706 – 1755), English antiquary and biographer
Glen Ballard (born 1953), American songwriter and record producer
Hank Ballard (1936–2003), American singer/songwriter
J. G. Ballard (1930–2009), British writer
Kaye Ballard (1925–2019), American actress, singer, and comedian
Lucien Ballard (1908–1988), American cinematographer
Mary Canfield Ballard (1852–1927), American poet
Robert Ballard II (c. 1575–1645), French Baroque lutenist and composer
Russ Ballard (born 1945), English singer/songwriter and musician
Simone Ballard (1897–1978), French opera singer
Tom Ballard (comedian) (born 1989), Australian comedian and radio presenter

Military and politics

Barbara Ballard (born 1944), American politician
Bethany Ballard, American politician
Bland Ballard (1761–1853), American soldier and politician
Charles Ballard (politician) (1836–1891), U.S. politician in Connecticut
Clinton B. Ballard (1860–1946), American politician
Colin Robert Ballard, (1868–1941), Brigadier-General in the British Army and military author
Donald E. Ballard (born 1945), American soldier
Don Ballard (1927–2019), American politician and lawyer
Edward J. Ballard (c. 1790–1813), American naval officer
George Alexander Ballard (1862–1948), British naval officer
Greg Ballard (born 1954), American politician
Jackie Ballard (born 1953), British politician and journalist
John Archibald Ballard (1829–1880), British Lieutenant General
John S. Ballard (1922–2012), American politician
Samuel James Ballard (1765–1829), Vice-Admiral in the Royal Navy
Thomas Ballard (1630–1690), Virginia colonial politician
Volant Vashon Ballard (c. 1774–1832), Rear-Admiral of the Royal Navy, Companion of the Bath

Science and medicine

Claudius Ballard (1890–1967), American physician
Dana H. Ballard (1946–2022), American computer scientist and vision researcher
Edward Ballard (1820–1897), English physician
Geoffrey Ballard (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

Charkey Ramon (born Dave Bruce Ballard in 1950), Australian boxer of the 1970s, and referee of the 1970s and '80s
Charles Ballard (active 1922–27), New Zealand footballer
Chris Ballard, American sports journalist
Del Ballard Jr. (born 1963), American professional bowler
Greg Ballard (basketball) (1955–2016), American basketball player
Jake Ballard (born 1987), American National Football League player
Jeff Ballard (born 1963), American Major League Baseball pitcher
Keith Ballard (born 1982), American ice hockey player
Tom Ballard (born 1988), British mountaineer
Daniel Ballard (born 1999) British professional footballer, Arsenal and Blackpool

Other

Adolphus Ballard (1867–1915), English historian
Antony J. Ballard, English celebrity chef
Harold Ballard (1903–90), Canadian businessman
John Ballard (died 1586), English Jesuit priest and conspirator against Elizabeth I
M. Russell Ballard (1928–2023), 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

This page lists people with the surname Ballard.
If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link.

Related Research Articles

August 22 is the 234th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 131 days remain until the end of the year.

April 3 is the 93rd day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 272 days remain until the end of the year.

May 14 is the 134th day of the year in the Gregorian calendar; 231 days remain until the end of the year.

John, Johnny, or Johnie Watson may refer to:

Clark is an English language surname with historical links to England, Scotland, and Ireland, ultimately derived from the Latin clericus meaning "scribe", "secretary" or a scholar within a religious order, referring to someone who was educated. Clark evolved from "clerk". First records of the name are found in 12th-century England. The name has many variants.

John is a common male name in the English language ultimately of Hebrew origin. The English form is from Middle English Ion, Ihon, Jon, Jan (mid-12c.), itself from Old French Jan, Jean, Jehan, from Medieval Latin Johannes, altered form of Late Latin Ioannes, or the Middle English personal name is directly from Medieval Latin, which is from the Greek name Ioannis (Ιωάννης), originally borne by Jews transliterating the Hebrew name Yochanan, the contracted form of the longer name Yehochanan, meaning "YHWH is Gracious" or "YHWH is Merciful". There are numerous forms of the name in different languages; these were formerly often simply translated as "John" in English but are increasingly left in their native forms.

Rufus is a masculine given name, a surname, an Ancient Roman cognomen and a nickname. Notable people with the name include:

Bird is an English surname, probably deriving from the vertebrates of the same name. Another common variant of this surname is "Byrd."

Lyons is a surname with several origins. It is the name of an eminent Anglo-Norman family that is descended from Ingelram de Lyons, Lord of Lyons, who arrived in England with the Norman Conquest, and from his relation, Nicholas de Lyons, who emigrated from Normandy to England in 1080 and was granted lands at Warkworth, Northamptonshire by William of Normandy. The family originated in the district of the Forest of Lyons, north of the town of Lyons-la-Forêt, in Norman Vexin, where their seat was the Castle of Lyons. The original surname was 'de Lyons' : subsequently, the 'de' was removed from the name, and some branches removed the 's' from the end of the word, producing 'Lyon'.

The surname Bruce is a British surname of French origin. In Scotland, it is derived from Clan Bruce. In some cases it is derived from the French place name of Briouze in Normandy, while in others it appears to be derived from Brix in Normandy, or Bruz in Brittany, both in France.

Knight is an English surname.

Warren is a common English and Irish surname and a masculine given name derived from the Norman family "de Warenne", a reference to a place called Varenne, a hamlet near Arques-la-Bataille, along the river Varenne in Normandy. The river name is thought to be derived from the continental Old Celtic Var- / Ver- "water, river", with a Germanic influence on the initial V- > W- after Warinna, from the Proto-Germanic war-, meaning "to protect or defend".

Dyer is an English surname with early medieval origins, deriving from the trade of cloth dying. Dyer is also found in Ireland as an Anglicisation of the Irish Gaelic surnames in Ireland "O Duibhir" and "Mac Duibhir". These are both derived from the words dubh, which means black, and odhar or uidhir, which mean uncolored.

Bowen is a Celtic surname representing two separate Celtic ethnicities, the Welsh ab Owain meaning "son of Owen" and the Irish Ó Buadhacháin meaning "descendant of Bohan". The Bowen lineage can be traced back to Llwyngwair in the 11th century, near Nevern in Pembrokeshire. The Bowen surname was adopted in 1424. There are seven Bowen crests and the Bowen/Owen family group share a tartan. The Bowen/Bowens surnames are more commonly found in southern Wales, while the Owen/Owens surnames are more commonly found in northern Wales.

Robbins is an English language surname. People with the name include:

The surname Barton has multiple possible origins. It may denote origin from one of the many places called Barton in England; however, another proposal would derive the name from Dunbarton in Scotland. The counties of Cheshire and Lancashire have the highest number of Barton families in the United Kingdom.

Hough is an English surname that is also used in Ireland as a variant of Haugh. People with this surname may pronounce it as "how" or "huff". Notable people with the surname include:

This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.