Family name origins & meanings
- English : from Richward, a Norman personal name composed of the Germanic elements rīc ‘power(ful)’ + ward ‘guard’.
- French : from Old French record, recort ‘recollection’, ‘account’, ‘testimony’, and by extension ‘witness’, hence perhaps a nickname for someone who had given evidence in a court of law, or a metonymic occupational name for a clerk who recorded court proceedings.
- New England variant of French Ricard, reflecting an Americanized spelling of the Canadian pronunciation.