English and French: 1. nickname for a reckless person, from Middle English, Old French baiard, baiart ‘foolhardy’ (the name—a derivative of baie ‘reddish brown’—of the magnificent but reckless horse given to Renaud by Charlemagne, according to medieval romances). 2. metonymic occupational name for a carrier, from Middle English, Old French baiard, baiart ‘hand barrow’, ‘open cart’.
FOREBEARS A Huguenot family of this name migrated from France to Antwerp in the 16th century. In 1647 Anna Bayard, widow of Samuel Bayard, and her three young children accompanied her brother Peter Stuyvesant to New Amsterdam aboard the Princess. Her sons Petrus and Nicolas Bayard, both born in Alphen, Netherlands, had many prominent descendants in North America. Peter Stuyvesant's wife Judith was a Bayard.
