Worldwide Distribution of the name Millard:
First of all, there are some people named Millard in most countries around the globe. World family names (which is shown on the banner) is based on the number of people with that surname per million names of population in that country.
Thus, while Australia has the highest percentage in the world with 196 people named Millard per million, the country only has a population of 23 millions, so a bit fewer than 5,000 people named Millard. The United Kingdom, with a population of 64 millions has about 10,000 people named Millard, about 17,000 Millards in the USA, and Canada has less than 1,500 Millards. Interestingly enough, there is a small but significant population of Millards in France, most notable in the Champagne-Ardenne Region, and about 2,000 Millards in all of Fance.
Last but not least, our cousin Andrew Millard is holding up the Millard name in South Africa, having grown up on the Eastern Cape and now living in Johannesburg.
Millard Name Origins:
There is more than one origin for the Millard name, but the most common is derived from the word Myll, Anglo-Saxon for a mill (to grind grain for flour, to pump water, and to power other pre-Industrial age equipment). In mediaeval times in England, most people, unless nobility, did not have or use a surname, this changed in the 1300s when John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster, son of Edward III, uncle of Richard II, father of Henry IV, and the richest and most hated man in the kingdom, introduced a poll tax on every citizen, and a surname was required to identify each person. Thus, John the Baker became John Baker, and Robert who worked at or owned the Myll became Robert Myllward or Meleward. Almost everyone was still illiterate, and name spellings were totally at the whim of the clerk or parish priest, either of whom were often only semi-literate themselves!
This meant that hundreds of people, unconnected either genealogically or biologically, suddenly all had the same surname. The name was transmogrified during the 1600s when parish records were required to be maintained and saved, with Millard and then Miller becoming commonplace. Early examples of the surname recordings include Richard Meleward in the county of Sussex in 1296, Walter le Milneward in the letter books of the city of London in 1300, and Robert le Moleward in the Subsidy Tax rolls of Derbyshire in 1327, although these could also be descendants of French Normans from the conquering of Britain by William the Conqueror in 1088. The Millards living in France at the present time could also be decendants of the Normans.
Although mill operators were respected and valuable members of their community, they were considered as slightly above peasants, but none worthy of a coat of arms.
For a number of reasons, we believe the second origin of the name Millard could be from French Huguenot refugees escaping to England in the 1500s. Both the Maulden Millards and the Pennsylvania Millards share a common ancestry belief their families were Huguenots.
First of all, there are some people named Millard in most countries around the globe. World family names (which is shown on the banner) is based on the number of people with that surname per million names of population in that country.
Thus, while Australia has the highest percentage in the world with 196 people named Millard per million, the country only has a population of 23 millions, so a bit fewer than 5,000 people named Millard. The United Kingdom, with a population of 64 millions has about 10,000 people named Millard, about 17,000 Millards in the USA, and Canada has less than 1,500 Millards. Interestingly enough, there is a small but significant population of Millards in France, most notable in the Champagne-Ardenne Region, and about 2,000 Millards in all of Fance.
Last but not least, our cousin Andrew Millard is holding up the Millard name in South Africa, having grown up on the Eastern Cape and now living in Johannesburg.
Millard Name Origins:
There is more than one origin for the Millard name, but the most common is derived from the word Myll, Anglo-Saxon for a mill (to grind grain for flour, to pump water, and to power other pre-Industrial age equipment). In mediaeval times in England, most people, unless nobility, did not have or use a surname, this changed in the 1300s when John of Gaunt Duke of Lancaster, son of Edward III, uncle of Richard II, father of Henry IV, and the richest and most hated man in the kingdom, introduced a poll tax on every citizen, and a surname was required to identify each person. Thus, John the Baker became John Baker, and Robert who worked at or owned the Myll became Robert Myllward or Meleward. Almost everyone was still illiterate, and name spellings were totally at the whim of the clerk or parish priest, either of whom were often only semi-literate themselves!
This meant that hundreds of people, unconnected either genealogically or biologically, suddenly all had the same surname. The name was transmogrified during the 1600s when parish records were required to be maintained and saved, with Millard and then Miller becoming commonplace. Early examples of the surname recordings include Richard Meleward in the county of Sussex in 1296, Walter le Milneward in the letter books of the city of London in 1300, and Robert le Moleward in the Subsidy Tax rolls of Derbyshire in 1327, although these could also be descendants of French Normans from the conquering of Britain by William the Conqueror in 1088. The Millards living in France at the present time could also be decendants of the Normans.
Although mill operators were respected and valuable members of their community, they were considered as slightly above peasants, but none worthy of a coat of arms.
For a number of reasons, we believe the second origin of the name Millard could be from French Huguenot refugees escaping to England in the 1500s. Both the Maulden Millards and the Pennsylvania Millards share a common ancestry belief their families were Huguenots.