Last name: Ardern

This interesting name has a very ancient history, being of either Celtic or Anglo-Saxon origin. It is a regional surname from either the Forest of Arden in Warwickshire, or from the place called Arden in Cheshire, both of which share the same meaning and derivation, thought to be linguistically identical with the forest of the Ardennes in France and Belgium, from a Celtic word "ard" meaning "high", and used here in the sense of tall trees on hills. Arden in North Yorkshire is recorded as "Ardene" in the Domesday Book of 1086, and means "gravel or eagle valley", from the Olde English pre 7th Century "ear", gravel, or "eran", eagle, with "denn", valley. Ardern is a variant of the more familiar Arden, and is also found as Ardron and Hordern. Recordings from Lancashire Church Registers include the marriage of John Ardern and Anna Hall at Gorton on April 3rd 1662. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Heloise de Arderne, which was dated 1171, in the "Pipe Rolls of Norfolk", during the reign of King Henry 11, known as "The Builder of Churches", 1154 - 1189. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

Visitor Comments

erin
hi I'm an Ardern myself. Thanks for the information as I have been searching for it for months!

Courtney
I am an Ardern also, which part of the world are you in? It seems to be a rather rare surname

Joyce Winfield
My paternal grandmother was called Ardern and she was born in Fairfield near Buxton. There are a lot of Arderns in the local census returns. There is an Ardern Hall near Stockport. Joyce

Rebecca
Im a recently new Ardern. My Husband and I are from Nottinghamshire but I know his parents moved there before he was born. Is anyone fed up with people spelling their name Arden? I am already!

Jon Ardern
If anyone here is on facebook, why not join the ARDERN"S OF THE WORLD UNITE group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=35813804905

Norman Gee
My wifes' maiden name is Ardern. Her fathers family came to New Zealand in 1890 and settled near Thames. There were 12 brothers in the family. We found out some years ago that one of her ancestors, Crewe Ardern, married one of my ancestors, Elizabeth Gee in Cheshire in 1726! We married here in Auckland, New Zealand in 1988. My family are from Liverpool where I was born.

Norman Gee
Just remembered that Ardern is one of the two oldest surnames in the English language that pre dates the Norman Conquest. The other surviving name is Berkeley! As in the earls of Berkeley in Gloucestershire.