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THE LINNARD NAME AND FAMILY TREES I am concerned primarily with the Welsh Linnard tree because I was born in Wales but I am very interested in the name and its manifestations elsewhere around the world. Having studied my family tree, like many of you, I have become intrigued with the appearance the name elsewhere. Not being able to connect the trees together it became apparent that there was quite clearly different starting points. Whether they are ultimately from one source is a possibility but beyond my research to date. Most certainly there is a presence in recorded history of the name in England as far back as 1500's. The name Lienard, which is where my direct family is descended, has a presence in Europe going back even further. Therefore, in Wales, according to my research, there is an extensive family tree with the name Linnard. This originates from a William Linnard (Originally spelt Lienard - Professor Bill Linnard's research) who sailed into Swansea, in his own boat, about 1780 from Ireland. He was originally from Flanders, near the French border, probably Hainault area and no doubt left because of religious persecution. This area is now modern day Belgium. He left Ireland, according to Professor Bill Linnard's family legend, because there were too many Catholics and obviously sailed on to Swansea, South Wales in search of the safety of non-comformist religious company. In fact this information has been confirmed by several different members of the extended family during my research. William settled and married Mary Walters in 1784 and there were 6 children. Only 2 had children from whom all the Welsh Linnard's are descended. Subsequently the name Lienard was corrupted and changed by various official state and church documents but essentially settled as Linnard by 1840's. At the same time William Lienard arrived in Swansea there appears to have been separate Linnard family trees that developed in USA. In England and Ireland there is evidence of the name as far back as 1500 and 1700's. How these Linnard families are connected or related I am, at this stage, unsure. The USA tree stems from another William Linnard who was born in Philadelphia in 1749 and subsequently created the majority of the Linnard's in the USA. Who his parents were and where they came from is unclear but his parents obviously from came from Europe. They probably were first generation settlers but I have yet to find their names on any ships arriving in USA ports. The Irish family trees, I believe in part, stem from the corruption of indeginous names. But it is possibly that European immigrants in the 1400 - 1700's brought the name with them. It could have been brought with William of Orange and his army or British & French forces fighting under King James II. There are definately Linnard's with Irish descent who immigrated in all directions and some ended up in Wales and England. Many of these are I think a corruption of Lenard, Lennard, Leonard or Linnerd. The Irish custom, and I believe is true generally, of using aliases or various surnames created the numerous spellings and changes to names and not fixed as today. Obviously there is the spector of illiteracy which was very low and consequently phonetic spelling was common. I am sure that some immigrated to the USA. The other possibility could be from Europe into the Southern counties, as a corruption of Lienard from Hainault or surrounding areas. This is essentially the same as the Welsh Linnard's but they established themselves in England rather than Wales, much earlier. It is interested to note that there is a substantial family tree of Lienard's in Quebec, Canada, going back to the 1600's. They the name was not corrupted essential because the language was the same - French. This would be consistant with the Hainault connect to the William Linnard in Wales. All this would need further coordinating research, but initially it is possible. I would welcome any other thought about the derivation of the name and any relations to Linnard name. Please contact me via this site or direct email to [email protected].