Modern tools such as surname maps by country are great to analyse the history of family names, discover patterns in geographic distributions, and perhaps even find surprising ways in which surnames are linked to ancient cultures, at the time when surnames didn't exist.
Surnames ending in -ard, -art or -aert are quite common in Belgium, both among French speakers and Flemish speakers. Many names exist on both sides of the linguistic border, with just a difference of spelling (-aert in Flanders).
A funny thing is that their frequency declines as one moves northward across the Netherlands, and southward to France. In France, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region (historically part of the Low Countries) has about the same incidence of these names as Belgium. These names remain relatively common in Champagne and Lorraine (both adjacent to Belgium), but the percentage drops quickly further south. They are also common in Germany, especially in the Rhineland region (also adjacent to Belgium) and in Baden-Württemberg.
Overall the distribution tends of remind of the original Merovingian kingdom before the conquest of Gaul by Clovis.
Many of these surnames are derived from given names, either ending in -art/-ard themselves, or not (in that case the -ard/-art was added to a given name). Most of these names of typically Germanic, like Evrard/Ebraert/Eberhart (in French/Flemish/German), Gérard/Geraert/Gerhart, Léonard/Leenhard/Leonhard... Non-Germanic names were adapted accordingly, so that the French name Pierre becomes Pierard or Pirard, Jacques becomes Jacquart or Jacquemart, Jean becomes Jeanmart, Nicolas becomes Colard or Colart, etc.
Such names also exist in Italy (in -ardi or -arti), particularly in the north. Most are obviously of Germanic origin, like Bernardi, Gherardi, Leonardi...
Surnames ending in -ard, -art or -aert are quite common in Belgium, both among French speakers and Flemish speakers. Many names exist on both sides of the linguistic border, with just a difference of spelling (-aert in Flanders).
A funny thing is that their frequency declines as one moves northward across the Netherlands, and southward to France. In France, the Nord-Pas-de-Calais region (historically part of the Low Countries) has about the same incidence of these names as Belgium. These names remain relatively common in Champagne and Lorraine (both adjacent to Belgium), but the percentage drops quickly further south. They are also common in Germany, especially in the Rhineland region (also adjacent to Belgium) and in Baden-Württemberg.
Overall the distribution tends of remind of the original Merovingian kingdom before the conquest of Gaul by Clovis.
Many of these surnames are derived from given names, either ending in -art/-ard themselves, or not (in that case the -ard/-art was added to a given name). Most of these names of typically Germanic, like Evrard/Ebraert/Eberhart (in French/Flemish/German), Gérard/Geraert/Gerhart, Léonard/Leenhard/Leonhard... Non-Germanic names were adapted accordingly, so that the French name Pierre becomes Pierard or Pirard, Jacques becomes Jacquart or Jacquemart, Jean becomes Jeanmart, Nicolas becomes Colard or Colart, etc.
Such names also exist in Italy (in -ardi or -arti), particularly in the north. Most are obviously of Germanic origin, like Bernardi, Gherardi, Leonardi...