Family name origins & meanings
- Dutch and German : from a Germanic personal name, Halidher, composed of the elements halið ‘hero’ + hari, heri ‘army’, or from another personal name, Hildher, composed of the elements hild ‘strife’, ‘battle’ + the same second element.
- Dutch and North German : topographic name for someone living on a slope, from Middle Dutch helldinge ‘slanting surface’. Compare Halder.
- English : from an agent derivative of Old English healdan ‘to hold’, hence a name denoting an occupier or tenant. Compare Holder.
- English : variant of Hilder.
- English : possibly a variant of Elder, with the addition of an inorganic initial H-.