Hart Family History

English and North German: nickname from Middle English hert (Old English heorot) Middle Low German hërte harte ‘hart stag’ perhaps for a quick-footed or timorous individual. German: variant of Hardt 1 and It is also found in France (Alsace and Lorraine).

Jewish (Ashkenazic): artificial name or nickname from German and Yiddish hart ‘hard’. Dutch: from a short form of an ancient Germanic personal name with the first element hard ‘hardy brave strong’.

Dutch (‘t Hart): from Middle Dutch hart modern Dutch hert ‘deer hart’ or hart ‘heart’ applied as a topographic or habitational name referring to a house or inn named for instance ‘t Vliegend Hart (‘the Flying Deer’) or ‘t Dorstig Hart (‘the Thirsty Heart’). Compare De Hart.

Americanized form (a shortened and altered translation) of some of the French surnames containing the word coeur ‘heart’: Francoeur Jolicoeur Vadeboncoeur.

French: from an Old French word meaning ‘rope’ hence possibly a metonymic occupational name for a rope maker or a hangman. Irish (Sligo): Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hAirt ‘descendant of Art’ a byname meaning ‘bear’ or ‘hero’. Native American (Cheyenne): from a shortened and altered English translation of the Cheyenne personal name Homa'ehesta ‘Beaver Heart’ composed of homa'e ‘beaver’ and hesta ‘heart’.