HAROLD
The surname Harold is a historic English family name that finds its earliest documentary evidence in the Domesday Book and the pipe rolls of the mid–1170s. It is firmly rooted in the linguistic heritage of the British Isles.
Harold derives from the Old English personal name Hereweald. The compound consists of the elements here, meaning “army”, and weald, meaning “power”, “leader” or “ruler”. Consequently, the literal meaning of the name is “army ruler” or “leader of the army”, a designation that would have been suitable for a person of martial importance.
The name was first recorded as a surname in situations where a given name was adopted as a hereditary family signifier. One of the earliest attestations is that of Ralph Harold in 1171 in the pipe rolls of Yorkshire under the reign of King Henry I, a period when the English royal administration was intensively documenting landholdings. Subsequent documents include a witness named Radulfus Harold in a 1196 Yorkshire legal record titled “The Feet of Fines”, and a Philip Herald mentioned in the 1327 Subsidy Rolls of Sussex.
Over the following centuries the name spread through England and came into contact with Scandinavian naming traditions. The Old Norse name Haraldr shared the same elements of “army” and “power”, and the surname thus has cognates in both Old English and Old Norse contexts. The name was also popularised during the Viking age, reflected in the reigns of monarchs such as Harold Harefoot and the final Saxon king, Harold II, who perished at Hastings in 1066.
Variants of the surname, which arise from spelling differences and dialectal pronunciation, include Harrold, Haroldson, Harroldson, Harrol, Harrel, Harrad and Harrod. These variations appear in parish records and heraldic documents; for example, a Syble Harrolde was christened at St. Mary Magdalene, Old Fish Street, London, on 14 April 1550, and an Alice, daughter of Thomas Harold, was christened at St. Margaret’s Westminster, London, in November 1613.
Heraldic records reveal that several coats of arms have been granted to families bearing the name Harold, notably in Suffolk and Shropshire. A prominent example is the grant received by Walter Harold, who was allocated the coat of arms of his father‑in‑law, Edward Bee, a former Sheriff of Dublin who died in April 1614. This heraldic achievement, recorded in contemporary descriptions, depicts a gold escarbuncle or precious stone situated between three silver estoiles on a red shield.
In the present day the surname Harold remains uncommon. According to the most recent census data, its prevalence in England and Wales places it at rank 6,265, while in the United States it ranks at 17,162. Nevertheless, bearers of the name can be found across English‑speaking countries, including the United Kingdom, the United States, Canada and Australia, reflecting the enduring legacy of a name that has survived for more than a millennium.
The surname also has a Gaelic connection in some cases, being an anglicised form of the Irish patronymic Ó hArailt, meaning “descendant of Arailt”, a personal name derived from Old Norse Haraldr. This illustrates the wide range of cultural interactions that have shaped the development of the name across the British Isles.
Typical given names associated with the Harold surname
Male
- Anthony
- David
- James
- John
- Michael
- Paul
- Peter
- Richard
- Stephen
- William
Female
- Cynthia
- Eileen
- Elizabeth
- Emma
- Karen
- Laura
- Margaret
- Mary
- Nicola
- Rebecca
- Susan
- Theodora
- Victoria
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Harold in...
Braille
⠓⠁⠗⠕⠇⠙
Morse
.....-.-.---.-..-..
Semaphore
There are approximately 1,577 people named Harold in the UK. That makes it roughly the 5,140th most common surname in Britain. Around 24 in a million people in Britain are named Harold.
Surname type: From given name or forename
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Harold
- Danielle Harold - Plays Lola Pearce in BBC EastEnders
- Dave Harold - Snooker player
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.