Family name origins & meanings
- English (mainly Yorkshire) : from a Norman personal name, Tancard, composed of the Germanic words þank ‘thought’ + hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’.
- English (mainly Yorkshire) : metonymic occupational name for a maker of barrels and drinking vessels, or a nickname for a hardened drinker, from Middle English tankard ‘tub’, ‘cup’ (apparently a borrowing from Middle Dutch).