Recorded as Ledgard, Legard, Leggard, Lidgard, Luggard, Lugard, and possibly others, this is a surname of Anglo-Saxon and Old German pre 5th century origins. It derives from the personal name "Liudgard" composed of the elements "liut", meaning people or tribe, and "gard", meaning protection or perhaps defence. As Legeard it was a personal name born by the Norman invaders of England in 1066, , but may have been 'native' to the country prior to that date. It was also found in the feminine form as "Liutgard", the name of Emperor Charlemagne's wife in the 9th century. The surname was first recorded in England in the late 13th century (see below), whilst the personal name is recorded as Leggard Joseph in the Subsidy Tax Rolls of Cambridgeshire in 1327. Hugh Leggard appears in the Court Rolls of the Manor of Wakefield, Yorkshire, in 1275 and Thomas Ledgard in the Hundred Rolls of Norfolk, in the same year. Other recordings showing the spelling variations include those of William Lyggard in the Poll Tax Records of Yorkshire in 1379, Thomas Legarde, christened at Terling, Essex, in 1540, and Elizabeth Lugard, who married the exotically named Xpofer Arundell at St Giles Cripplegate, city of London, on July 4th 1625. A coat of arms granted to the family depicts a bend between six red mullets, pierced, a gold cross pattee on a silver shield, with the motto is "Per crucem ad stellas" (By the cross to heaven). Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as the 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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