This name derives from the Olde Norse "geldr" or the Medieval English "geld", a word used to describe barren animals, plus the Olde English pre 7th Century "herd", a herdsman. The name is therefore occupational for a tender of the "geld" cattle. The surname from this source is first recorded in the latter half of the 13th Century, (see below). One, Petrus Geldhird and a Ricardus Geldhyrd appear in the 1379 "Poll Tax Returns of Yorkshire". The variant spellings Gelderd and Geldert appear in Yorkshire in 1494 and 1511 respectively. In the modern idiom, the name is spelt Geldard, Geldeard, Geldart and Gelder. On August 23rd 1818 one, William Geldeard married a Sarah Harrison at Rothwell, Yorkshire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William le Geldehyrde. which was dated 1284, The Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield, Yorkshire. during the reign of King Edward I, The Hammer of the Scots, 1272 - 1307. 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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