# the origin of the last name Allansgaard **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 8, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-last-name-allansgaard/363665 "2006-07-08T20:54:52Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 8:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-last-name-allansgaard/363665/1 "2006-07-08T20:54:52Z")
Does anyone know the origin of this name? Google doesn’t bring up any results on a search. ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 10:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-last-name-allansgaard/363665/2 "2006-07-08T22:15:39Z")
It is clearly Scandanavian. Possibly Swedish. More than that, I cannot say. ---
**Author:** ![FormerMarineGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/65b543/32.png) [@FormerMarineGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FormerMarineGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 10:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-last-name-allansgaard/363665/3 "2006-07-08T22:22:33Z")
From [HERE](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_name) explains GAARD. These names often indicated the place of residence of the family. For this reason, Denmark and Norway have a very high incidence of names derived from those of farms, many signified by the suffix -gaard – the modern spelling is gård in Danish and has changed to gard in Norwegian, but as in Sweden, archaic spelling persists in surnames. From [HERE](http://genealogy.about.com/library/surnames/a/bl_name-ALLEN.htm) explains ALLEN. Definition: From “aluinn,” meaning fair or handsome. Surname Origin: Scottish Alternate Surname Spellings: ALAN, ALLAN More Resources for the Surname ALLEN. So, is it Handsome from the Farms? ---
**Author:** ![Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bosda_di_chi_of_tricor/32/16845_2.png) [@Bosda\_Di\_Chi\_of\_Tricor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bosda_Di_Chi_of_Tricor)\ **Post date:** [July 8, 2006, 10:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-last-name-allansgaard/363665/4 "2006-07-08T22:41:20Z")
“Handsome from the Farms”? Well, now. If anybody on the SDMB wants to become a Gay Swedish Pornstar, I guess they know what to call themselves. No offence is ment to any real Allengaards, or for that matter, any Gay Swedish Pornstars. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 1:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-last-name-allansgaard/363665/5 "2006-07-09T01:59:22Z")
Are you quite certain that you’ve spelled the name correctly? With this spelling, it would have to be a mixture of Scottish and Swedish names. Nothing comes up in various searches, which is quite odd. Where did you hear this name? ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 2:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-last-name-allansgaard/363665/6 "2006-07-09T02:40:10Z")
Thanks for the info. A combination name from two different languages definitely is odd. The name was in an old family Bible (the section in the front where you record the names of family members and important dates). The way I spelled it is the way it is recorded, but I can’t be sure that the person doing the record keeping spelled it correctly. The info was probably recorded in Georgia or South Carolina, or some other place in the south. I don’t have the book with me, so I can’t give any info on the dates that they lived right now. No one in the family that I know is currently using the name. My family members are black, so we can’t use our ancestry to determine the source. ---
**Author:** ![FormerMarineGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/65b543/32.png) [@FormerMarineGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/FormerMarineGuy)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 4:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-last-name-allansgaard/363665/7 "2006-07-09T16:33:11Z")
[QUOTE=Omega Glory] Thanks for the info. A combination name from two different languages definitely is odd. The name was in an old family Bible (the section in the front where you record the names of family members and important dates). The way I spelled it is the way it is recorded, but I can’t be sure that the person doing the record keeping spelled it correctly. The info was probably recorded in Georgia or South Carolina, or some other place in the south. I don’t have the book with me, so I can’t give any info on the dates that they lived right now. No one in the family that I know is currently using the name. My family members are black, so we can’t use our ancestry to determine the source. [/QUOTE] Quite possible that there was a name change, or slight variation of spelling when your family members migrated to this country. It happened to my family. ---
**Author:** ![easy\_e](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/eb8c5e/32.png) [@easy\_e](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/easy_e)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 4:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-last-name-allansgaard/363665/8 "2006-07-09T16:38:53Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] Are you quite certain that you’ve spelled the name correctly? With this spelling, it would have to be a mixture of Scottish and Swedish names. Nothing comes up in various searches, which is quite odd. Where did you hear this name? [/QUOTE] Didn’t the Norse invade northern England and Scotland? Could this be the reason for the mixing of languages? ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-last-name-allansgaard/363665/9 "2006-07-09T16:48:06Z")
[QUOTE=Omega Glory] A combination name from two different languages definitely is odd. [/QUOTE] As someone with a first name which combines two languages, and a surname which combines another two (all of British & Irish origin), I find this a perplexing statement! ---
**Author:** ![Dunderman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ecb155/32.png) [@Dunderman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dunderman)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-last-name-allansgaard/363665/10 "2006-07-09T19:33:33Z")
[QUOTE=Wendell Wagner] With this spelling, it would have to be a mixture of Scottish and Swedish names. [/QUOTE] Danish, actually. Swedish wouldn’t use “aa” but “å” instead. “Gård” can indeed mean “farm”, but also “yard” as in farmyard, castleyard and so forth. The meaning of “farm” is relatively recent, having come via the word “bondgård”, farmer’s gård. The word comes from the word gardr, meaning enclosure. “Allan” is not an uncommon first name, so I guess that’s the explanation: It means Allan’s yard. I bet it’s a Danish name. Having said that, I’ve never heard the name; not that that means anything. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2006, 8:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-origin-of-the-last-name-allansgaard/363665/11 "2006-07-09T20:16:24Z")
[QUOTE=GorillaMan] As someone with a first name which combines two languages, and a surname which combines another two (all of British & Irish origin), I find this a perplexing statement! [/QUOTE] I’ll amend the statement to say that a last name from those two languages seemed odd. A mix of British and Irish origin doesn’t seem unlikely, but Scottish and Swedish sounded like a bit of a stretch. Although **easy e** did bring up an explanation as to how that could happen. Interesting post **Priceguy**. **FormerMarineGuy** that’s certainly a possibility. The family is pretty racially mixed, so I don’t know if someone recorded the name of someone whose family started out in Europe, and the spelling changed over time, or if a former slave heard couple of different names and combined them to create new one for himself, or if someone just made a mistake while filling out the chart. Thanks for all your help everyone.