Giffard

The Noble Tribe of Giffard/Gifford in North America. The history of the Gifford family name begins after the Norman Conquest of 1066. They lived in Staffordshire with now extinct branches in Devon, Southampton and Buckinghamshire. [1] Some references claim that the surname was a nickname for a chubby cheeked or roundfaced person having derived from the Old French word "giffard," a pejorative form of "giffel," meaning "jaw." This is not the case.