Sherrard Family History

English:: from an unrecorded Middle English personal name Shirard (Old English Scīrheard composed of the elements scīr ‘bright’ and heard ‘hard bold’). Alternatively the name may be a nickname deriving from Middle English shir (Old English scīr) ‘bright fair’ with the addition of the Anglo-Norman French suffix -ard.

Local pronunciation of Sherwood especially perhaps in Leicestershire, Kent, Lincolnshire, Norfolk, Sussex, and Yorkshire. It may also have been much confused with Skerritt. This name or the name in 1 above has been established in Ireland (Derry) since the 17th century along with Sherwood (in most provinces).

A variant of Scarratt perhaps a habitational name from an unidentified locality in or near Audley (Staffordshire) implied by the surname of Henry Skaryok (1298) or Scarioc (1307) who appears as a tenant in Horton near Rudyard in the Audley estate records.

Skaryok might refer to a damaged or mis-shapen oak tree (Middle English scarri ‘(?) scraggy’), later developing to Scariot through the common substitution of /t/ for final /k/. Alternatively, the spellings may be copyists' errors for Scariot, perhaps a nickname from playing the part of Judas Iscariot in a mystery play.

The name seems to have been thoroughly confused with Sherrard and its many variants.