As with many old English personal names such as "Alfgar" composed of the disparate elements "aelf", elf" and "gari", spear, most double-barrelled names are the result of marriage between two families, where the resulting name has no overall meaning, but the separate elements have their own meaning and derivation. In this instance, the name "Brand" is old Scandinavian in origin, deriving from the old Norse personal name "Brandr", or "Brand", in old Danish, meaning "fire-brand" or "sword", a derivative of "brinnan", to flash. The surname is first recorded in the Domesday Book for Norfolk of 1086 as William Brant. The surname "hardy" is early medieval English and French in origin, deriving from a nickname for a brave or foolhardy man, from the old French, Middle English "hardi", bold, courageous. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Hardi, which was dated 1194, The Yorkshire Pipe Rolls, during the reign of King Richard I, "The Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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