Recorded in several forms including Lidyard, Lydyard, Liddard, Lideard and others, this very interesting surname is English. It is of locational origins from either the village of Lydiard in Wiltshire or Lydeard in Somerset. In the Domesday Book of 1086, Lydiard is recorded as Lidiarde, and Lydeard as Lediart. Both places are situated by prominent hills, to which the name was no doubt originally applied, where the second element is the Welsh "garth" meaning a hill and the first element is not clear. Being a locational surname, it is a 'from' name. That is to say a name given to people after they left their orginal homes and moved elsewhere. The surname is first recorded in church registers in the first half of the 16th Century, (see below), and these include: on August 5th 1539, William Lyddyard, who was christened at St. Andrew's, Ogbourne, the marriage of Isabell Liddyard to Robert Bradley, took place on November 17th 1560, in the same place; at St. Mary's, Marlborough, on December 4th 1607, whilst on May 25th 1663, Alice Liddiard, married John Newbury, at St. James, Clerkenwell, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of John Lyddyard, a witness at a christening. This was dated January 21st 1539, at St. Andrew's church, Ogbourne, Wiltshire, during the reign of King Henry V111, 1509 - 1547. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes 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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