This interesting surname is of English locational origin from either 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. The surname is first recorded in the early half of the 16th Century, (see below). In the modern idiom the name is found with variant spellings Lidiard, Lydiard, Lideard, Lyddyard, Lyddiard and Liddyard. On August 5th 1539, William Lyddyard, 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, Elizabeth, daughter of John Liddiard, was christened; and 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, witness at christening, which was dated January 21st 1539, in St. Andrew, Ogbourne, Wiltshire, during the reign of King Henry V111, known as "Good King Hal", 1509 - 1547. 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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