Packard
A surname likely from the Norman/French name Picard, though some 19th-century writers also connected it with Pack or a packer.
The #3,733 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 32,520 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Most of the older surname books treat Packard as a Norman-French form, often explaining it as a development of Picard, the name for a person from Picardy in northern France. One common 19th-century analysis also breaks it into Pack- plus the French ending -ard, but that is more of a morphological guess than a settled derivation. A minority of references instead suggest a link with Pack or Pack(e), which would point toward an English nickname or occupational association.
History
The name is recorded in English surname discussion as an established form by the 18th and 19th centuries, and it appears strongly in American records as well. Several surname writers explicitly note Packard as common in the United States and connect it with the older Picard line of explanation. Because of the similar spelling, it has sometimes been confused with Packer or Packman, but those are separate surnames.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A number of 19th-century surname dictionaries list Packard right alongside other French-looking English surnames ending in -ard, such as Hazard and Lollard.
From the historical record
“WiUiam Pakke.— dp. PACKARD, the French Pac(c)ard (fairly com- mon) [v. under Pack(e, and -|- the Fr. dim. (or intens.) suff. -ard, O.Teut. hard, hard] PACKENHAM, v. Pakenham. PACKER (Eng.) Packman, Pedlar ; Packer [M.E. packere, etc., f. M.E. packe, a pack : V. under Paok(e, (Eng.]”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)Notable people named Packard
- David Packard (1912–1996)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.