History has a habit of doing strange things to surnames, and this is an excellent example. The "modern" spelling is a diminutive form of the Old Gaelic or Old French "Bard", plus the suffix originally "aux" or "ot". The name translates as "Little Singer", but more probably was literally "Son of the Singer", and is now found in France as Bardo, Bardot and Bardineau. Some Beardow nameholders may well be Huguenot, but the early recordings in Devonshire suggest a more natural affiliation with the Gaelic-Breton origin. The name recording examples are as follows: Edmond Burdeux, christened at St. Mary Major, Exeter, Devonshire, on April 17th 1594, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1 (1558 - 1603); on June 22nd 1702, Hannah Beardow was christened at the famous Church of St. Martin in the Fields, Trafalgar Square, Westminster, London; and on December 8th 1761, Claude Bardeux married Mary Douchet at Winchelsea, Sussex. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Oliver Bardo, which was dated November 18th 1546, marriage to Edyth Worthe at Barnstable, Devonshire, during the reign of King Henry V111, known as "Bluff King Hal", 1510 - 1548. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.