Woodard

Tribe of Woodard in North America. The surname of WOODARD was a baptismal name 'the son of Wodard'. It was also a name given to a forrester, and a nickname for one who tended his herd in the woods. The name was derived from the Old English word WUDUHEARD, and literally meant one who was brave, hardy and strong. The earliest hereditary surnames in England are found shortly after the Norman Conquest of 1066 and are of Norman French origin rather than native English. On the arrival of the Normans they identified themselves by references to the estates from which they came from in northern France.