Family name origins & meanings
- English : from an Old English personal name, Burgheard, composed of the elements burh, burg ‘fort’ (see Burke) + heard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’. The name was reintroduced into Middle English by the Normans in the forms Bou(r)chart, Bocard. In the form Burkhard it was a very popular medieval German name. There has been considerable confusion between this English surname and Birkett.
- Perhaps also a variant of German Burkhart.