Last name origins help???

Question:I have been trying to find the origins of my last name but every site I have gone to that claims to have that information is completely different from the previous one.
One site said my last name was British and was from a family of bakers for royalty. Another said it was Celtic and meant High Lord(so far my favorite). Another said it was Swedish but gave no other information. So with all these different things for the same name how do I know which is legit???

My last name is Ballard by the way.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: I have been trying to find the origins of my last name but every site I have gone to that claims to have that information is completely different from the previous one.
One site said my last name was British and was from a family of bakers for royalty. Another said it was Celtic and meant High Lord(so far my favorite). Another said it was Swedish but gave no other information. So with all these different things for the same name how do I know which is legit???

My last name is Ballard by the way.

So much for the so-called credible sites.. at least you went to more than one, and realized it. many people stop at the first one, and never realize "whoops.. there might be a problem here".
Here's the trick... names DON'T always come from just one place (and there is no magic "first" ancestor, from who all the Ballards are descended). All of the above can be (partially) true. The only way is tracing your direct paternal lineage back to where he originated (not being sexist here, the name comes down that way 90% of the time).
So, if you are doing this for you, you need to trace your ancestry. If it is an assignment, smile sweetly, pick any one of them and turn it in. We are not fond of teachers who do this assignment (lots of them) because they obviously don't know enough about surnames to know why it does not work.
ps if one or more of the sites want to sell you something, that is another huge red flag. They will tell you whatever you want to hear.

It seems like it should be English. You don't see a lot of Swedish names with two L's in them.

I watched My Big Fat Greek Wedding and according to the dad everything has orignated from the Greek.

i know one place in mumbai as ballard pier,but which is your country of living now

It doesn't sound Swedish.

You should ask your parents first. They should have known its origin before documenting it.

Well, there is the Ballard district in Seattle which was founded by and remains predominately Swedish and those of other Scandanavian heritage. That may be your hint right there.

BTW...don't knock the Swedes...I married one!

Oh, and it's possible that it could be a combination. For instance, my maiden name is considered British, but when traced back to its origins, most likely came from a Scottish Monk that migrated, or something like that. So it is possible that it comes from a combination of countries.

According to Ancestor Search, Ballard is Celtic and Gaelic. You can also sarch for your ancestors on http://www.ancestry.com and http://www.rootsweb.com from the link below.

http://www.searchforancestors.com/surnam...

See the link below from the most prestigious genealogy organization in the U. S., The National Genealogical Society

http://www.ngsgenealogy.org/comconsumerp... Now this is what Ancestry.Com says. However, it might not be the only origin and meaning

English and Scottish, derogatory nickname from a derivative of bald 'baldheaded.'

However, I think bald headed men are sexy.
Don't tell Ted Pack.

Rootsweb(free site) has over 152,000 entries in family trees for Ballard. Just pull up the site and put Ballard or a complete name in the World Connect block. Once you have the trees, if you see something that interest you, probe on a name and it will give you the name and email address of the submitter.

Now, don't take as absolute fact everything you see in family trees on any website free or paid. The information is user submitted and mostly not documented or poorly documented. Even when you see the same information repeatedly by many different submitters that is no guarantee it is correct.
A lot of people copy without verifying. Actually if they have Family Tree Maker and a subscription to Genealogy.Com, they can merge someone else's tree into theirs and then upload it to Rootsweb, Ancestry.Com, FamilySearch.org, or Genealogy.Com. This means a lot of people have questionable information.

This is what www.ancestry.com has to say about the name,
Ballard
English and Scottish: derogatory nickname from a derivative of bald ‘bald-headed’ (see Bald 2).
We know a family with that surname, they come from County Durham, in the UK. They did some research into the name and they are convinced through their findings that it's English.

Ballard is a very common European name. I did one better than "the name sites". I went to actual immigration records from several countries. Ballard is common in ALL of these countries and by extension is literally indigenous to all of them.

Sweden
Netherlands
England
Wales
Scotland
Bermuda
Bahamas
Belgium
France
Germany
Switzerland
Austria

My suggestion is to track your own family backward and see what your own line's origins are.