Updated June 9, 2019

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Family name origins & meanings

  • English : from an Old English personal name, Burgheard, composed of the elements burh, burg ‘fort’ (see Burke) + heard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’. The name was reintroduced into Middle English by the Normans in the forms Bou(r)chart, Bocard. In the form Burkhard it was a very popular medieval German name. There has been considerable confusion between this English surname and Birkett.
  • Perhaps also a variant of German Burkhart.