(male) One of the most enduringly successful of the Old French personal names introduced into Britain by the Normans. It is of Germanic (Frankish) origin, derived from rīc ‘power’ + hard ‘strong, hardy’. It has enjoyed continuous popularity in England from the Conquest to the present day, influenced by the fact that it was borne by three kings of England, in particular Richard I (1157–99). He was king for only ten years (1189–99), most of which he spent in warfare abroad, taking part in the Third Crusade and costing the people of England considerable sums in taxes. Nevertheless, he achieved the status of a folk hero, and was never in England long enough to disappoint popular faith in his goodness and justice. He was also Duke of Aquitaine and Normandy and Count of Anjou, fiefs which he held at a time of maximum English expansion in France. His exploits as a leader of the Third Crusade earned him the nickname ‘Coeur de Lion’ or ‘Lionheart’ and a permanent place in popular imagination, in which he was even more firmly enshrined by Sir Walter Scott's novel Ivanhoe (1820).
Short forms: Rick, Dick, Rich.
Pet forms: Ricky, Rickie; Dicky, Dickie; Richie.
Cognates: Irish: Ristéard. Scottish Gaelic: Ruiseart. Welsh: Rhisiart. German: Richard. Dutch: Richard, Rikhart. Scandinavian: Rik(h)ard. French: Richard. Spanish, Portuguese: Ricardo. Italian: Riccardo. Polish: Ryszard. Czech: Richard. Slovenian: Rihard. Finnish: Rik(h)ard. Hungarian: Rikárd. Latvian: Rihards.
English: 1. status name for a steward or official, Middle English bail(l)i (Old French baillis, from Late Latin baiulivus, an adjectival derivative of baiulus ‘attendant’, ‘carrier’ ‘porter’). 2. topographic name for someone who lived by the outer wall of a castle, Middle English bail(l)y, baile ‘outer courtyard of a castle’, from Old French bail(le) ‘enclosure’, a derivative of bailer ‘to enclose’, a word of unknown origin. This term became a place name in its own right, denoting a district beside a fortification or wall, as in the case of the Old Bailey in London, which formed part of the early medieval outer wall of the city. 3. habitational name from Bailey in Lancashire, named with Old English beg ‘berry’ + lēah ‘woodland clearing’. 4. Anglicized form of French Bailly.
FOREBEARS The surname Bailey was established early on in North America by several different bearers; one of them, James Bailey, was one of the founders of Rowley, MA.A family of Huguenots of this name settled in CT, also using a variant spelling Besly.
