Updated June 9, 2019

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Family name origins & meanings

  • French : from a Norman personal name, Bou(r)chart, composed of the Germanic elements bourg ‘fort’ + heard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’.
  • French : nickname for someone with a big mouth (possibly in either a literal or figurative sense), from French bouche ‘mouth’ + the pejorative suffix -ard.
  • French : A Bouchard from Picardy is recorded in Sillery or Cap Rouge, Quebec, in 1650, with the secondary surname Dorval. Claude Bouchard (1626–99), known as Le Petite Claude, came from Sarthe, Perche, France, to Quebec city before 1654. A further bearer of the name from Paris was in Quebec city by 1657, and another, from La Rochelle, was in Château Richer by 1662. This is a very common surname in Canada and New England.