Recorded in several forms including Suddard, Suddards, and Sudderd, this is an English surname. More specifically it is North Country and probably from Yorkshire, where there are a preponderance of recordings from the 17th century onwards. The make-up of the name suggests that it is residential for someone who lived in or by a "suth-geard". This being a pre 7th century Olde English description for a fenced enclosure on the south side of a village, one where probably cattle would have been penned to prevent them roaming. Surnames of this type were amongst the earliest to become hereditary, as one of the simplest ways to identify somebody was to call them by the name of the place either from where they came or where they lived. It is also possible that an actual village called Suddard or similar spelling may have existed in medieval times, but has been subsequently "lost" owing to changes in agricultural practice, plague, or even urbanisation. Examples of the surname recording taken from surviving church registers for Yorkshire include: John Sudderd who married Ann Skoalfield at Mirfield Parish church, on August 24th 1667, and Sarah Suddards, who married Tom Wardman, at Bradford Parish church, on August 18th 1794.

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