Surname Thagarde - Meaning and Origin

Thagarde: What does the surname Thagarde mean?

The last name Thagarde has French origins and has several variants, including Taillard, Tailleard, Tailhard, Talerda, Tallerda, and Thalaude. The name is thought to come from the old French word "tailler," meaning “to cut, slay, or carve,” and is likely tied to a family of craftsmen who marked their trade by this name.

The surname Thagarde is quite rare; current estimates suggest only a few hundred individuals bear the name across the world. It is predominantly found in France and parts of Latin America. The greatest concentration of the surname is in San Antonio, Texas, although there are also records of people with the name in Louisiana, New York, and Massachusetts.

Thagarde is also a popular surname in parts of France, particularly in the regions of Alsace and Lorraine, located near the German border. It is thought that people with the surname might have been of Germanic descent, as there were several waves of Germanic migration toward France during the Middle Ages.

The Thagarde surname has a long and varied history in French culture. Middle Ages records suggest it is associated with traditional trade and artisan guilds, with individuals playing an important role in the production of tools and weaponry. Today, the name Thagarde brings to mind its well-known wearers, such as the French theologian Pierre Thagard and the playwright Jean-Marie Tailleard.

Thagarde: Where does the name Thagarde come from?

The last name Thagarde is most commonly found today in the United States. Ancestry.com indicates that the name comes from a French origin, likely having come to America during either the Huguenot period, or that of later French immigrants.

Surname distribution maps indicate that the name is most heavily concentrated in the states of Florida, California, and Louisiana. The Thagarde surname likely arrived in Louisiana at around the same time as the other French immigrants, during the early 1700s. The distribution map reflects French Louisiana's traditional settlement zones, of Lafayette, Baton Rouge, and New Orleans.

In California, the name arrived later in the mid-1800s, when many French immigrants moved westward to seek fortune in the California gold rush. California is the second most populous state of Thagardes, followed by Florida, which was also popular with French immigrants from the mid-1800s onwards.

The Thagarde last name is also reasonably common in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom, though in much lower proportions. All of these countries saw immigration from France in the 1700s and 1800s, and the Thagarde surname spread through the descendants who moved to the other nations.

In conclusion, the last name Thagarde is most common today in the United States, where it is heavily concentrated in the states of Florida, California, and Louisiana. It is also found in significant proportions in Canada, Australia, and the United Kingdom.

Variations of the surname Thagarde

The surname Thagarde is of French origin, with variants including Thaîgade, Thagard, Thaggerd, Thagard, Thagherd, Tagaard, Thaegard, Thageryd, and Tagart.

Thagarde is also found in Quebec, New Brunswick, Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Labrador, Prince Edward Island, and Ontario, with the use of the surname Thagarde/Thaegart/Thagherd/Thageryd becoming more common in the provinces of Quebec and Ontario in particular.

The original spelling of the surname Thagarde was Thaigade which is most commonly found in France and other French-influenced parts of the world. Thaigade is a French derivation of Teutonic elements thag, meaning 'people', and gard, meaning 'fence', hence ‘people in a patterned fence’.

In Scotland, the variant of Thagarde is sometimes spelled Thagerd, Thagard, Thagherd or Thageryd. In Scandinavia, particularly in Norway the surname is sometimes spelled Tagard and Tagart. In the Netherlands, variants such as Thagherod, Thaigard, and Tagard are found.

In Quebec, the variant of Thagarde is spelled Thaegart, with the spelling Thaegard, Thaegert and Thaggard also being seen.

It is believed that all of these variants, spellings and surnames of the same origin had their beginnings in France where the surname Thagarde originated and over time, these variants and surnames have spread to various parts of the world, thus becoming popular in several countries and language-speaking regions.

Famous people with the name Thagarde

• Micki Thagard: Singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist
• Nancy Thagard: Former US Representative from the state of Tennessee
• Taylor Thagard: Professional basketball player for the Phoenix Suns
• Carolee Thagard: Californian musician and actress
• Galen Thagard: Former state representative from Kentucky and mayor of Hudsonville
• David Thagard: Canadian philosopher, psychologist and cognitive scientist
• Troy Thagard: Professional American football player
• Kate Thagard: American writer and editor
• Laura Thagard: Former contributor to Sports Illustrated and Huffington Post
• Harold Thagard: Former US Representative from Florida

Other surnames

Thagard