Hurd
Usually a surname for a cattle herd or herdsman, though some sources also link it to a place-name.
The #1,743 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 15,031 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The most common explanation treats Hurd as a variant of Herd, from Old English or Middle English words for a cattle-keeper or herdsman. In that sense, the name originally described someone who tended livestock. One older source also proposed a Welsh connection, deriving it from a word for a ram, but that is less widely accepted than the occupational explanation.
History
Bardsley records Hurd as a spelling variant of Herd and also notes local forms such as Hurdwich, suggesting some bearers may have taken the name from a place associated with a herd-keeper. The surname is especially noted in western and southern English records, including Somerset and Devon, though it also appears elsewhere in England and later in America. Modern distribution in the United States reflects later migration and spelling variation rather than a single origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century surname dictionary glossed Hurd as a Welsh word for a ram, but the same tradition also links it more strongly to the everyday English occupation of herdsman.
From the historical record
“hunting field. HURD. (Welsh.) From Hurdh, a ram. HURST. (Saxon.) Local. A wood, a grove; fruit-bearing trees. HUSTED. Local. Hus, Sax., a house, and sted, a fixed pfcice. HUTCHINS. The child of Hugh. (See Hitchins.) HUTCHINSON. The son of Hitchins or Hutchins. HUTTON. Local. A town in England'; the high town.…”
— An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names