Richard Name Study

Profile manager: Martha Leger [send private message]

About the Project

The Richard Name Study project serves as a collaborative platform to collect information on the Richard name. The hope is that other researchers like you will join the study to help make it a valuable reference point for other genealogists who are researching or have an interest in the Richard name.

As a One Name Study, this project is not limited to persons who are related biologically. Individual studies can be used to branch out the research into specific methods and areas of interest, such as geographically (England Richards), by time period (18th Century Richards), or by topic (Richard DNA, Richard Occupations, Richard Statistics). These studies may also include a number of family branches which have no immediate link with each other. Some researchers may even be motivated to go beyond the profile identification and research stage to compile fully sourced, single-family histories of some of the families they discover through this name study project.

Also see the related surnames and surname variants.

How to Join

To join the Richard Name Study, first start out by browsing our current research pages to see if there is a specific study ongoing that fits your interests. If so, feel free to add your name to the Membership list below, post an introduction comment on the specific team page, and then dive right in!

If a research page does not yet exist for your particular area of interest, please contact the Name Study Coordinator: [Beaugh-15|Martha Leger]] for assistance.

... ... ... is a member of the Richard Name Study Project.

Once you are ready to go, you can also show your project affiliation with the ONS Member Sticker:

Research Pages

Here are some of the current research pages included in the study. I'll be working on them, and could use your help!

Membership

Related Surnames and Surname Variants

None identified

About the Surname

Last name: Richard SDB Popularity ranking: 2710

This interesting surname is one of the patronymic forms of the male personal name "Richard", which is Germanic in origin and means "powerful ruler". The Old German name "Ric(h)ard" is composed of the elements "ric", power and "hard", hardy, brave, strong. The name is found occasionally in pre-Conquest Britain, but was popularized to a great extent by the Normans after the Conquest of 1066, introduced in the form of "Ricard". There are a great many variant surnames that were generated by the given name "Richard", including the patronymic forms Richards, Ritchard, Richardes, Ric(e)ards and Ricarde, which all mean "son of Richard". The surname Richard is first recorded in the Oxfordshire Hundred Rolls of 1276 as Thomas Richard. Church Recordings include Anne Richardes who was christened on January 13th 1542 at St. Andrew Hubbard with St. Mary at Hill, London, and Arthur Richardes who was christened on March 14th 1564 at St. Margaret Lothbury, London. One John Richards was an early emigrant to the New World; he left London in August 1635 bound for Virginia. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Thomas Richardes, which was dated 1327, in the "Worcestershire Subsidy Rolls", during the reign of King Edward 111, known as "The Father of the Navy", 1327 - 1377. 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.