It's a surprise for me to discover an "Eymard" in the USA! My Family is originally from France, and the information I can give about this name are the following :

Etymology: Eymard is derived from an old German name (Heim-Hard or something like that). This name was popular in the Frank kingdom, which included a large portion of France, in the Middle Ages (10th-12th century). I can find the meaning of the german name, if you are interested.

In the Middle Ages, there were no family names, only first names. So popular names were given to many people, then became family names at the end of the Middle Ages (13th-14th century). Because of that, there are in France a lot of "Bernard", "Gerard", for example. The most common spelling of our name is "Aimard" or "Aymard", but it also exists "Hemard". The origin of these different spellings is the local accent (pronunciation): the spelling of all words was not fixed, and names were written principally for birth and death. In the North of France (North of the Loire river), country of "Oil" language, the name was written with an "A", whereas in the South, country of the "Hoc" or "Occitan" language, it was written with an "E".

In the present time, this distribution is still verified: looking for my name in the electronic telephone list, I found many "Eymard" in the Alps region, in the South-East Central Massive, and in the region around Bordeaux. The two first locations are in the mountains, but the latter near the ocean, Bordeaux being one of the major ports for a very long time. I guess that your family could be originally from the South West of France, because most of the French who went to the "New World" came from Brittany, Normandy and the South Western coast, between La Rochelle and the Basque country.

Well, I have no more information to give you, being in my office. I am personally originally from the Central Massive (near the city Le Puy), from farmer and artisan families. If you wish to find precisely your origin, there are in France associations who are specialized in these searches.

Sincerely
Laurence Eymard
Universite St. Quentin - Versailles

Dear Mr.Eymard,

I came across your homepage while surfing the net this afternoon. My name is (name withheld)-Eymard. I was born in Bordeaux, France on December 14th, 1975. I am a French national but I lived in London, England for ten years before moving to the Netherlands to pursue my studies. I currently live and study in Maastricht in the Southern province of Limburg. Eymard is my mother's surname. As my grandfather had five daughters, the name Eymard would have disappeared from my family had I not been allowed, under French law, to add this name to my father's surname, Dumas. However I will not be allowed to pass this name on to my children. Like the gentleman who wrote to you from Versailles last year (and whose letter I read with great interest), I was very surprised (and very pleased) to learn that there are Eymards living in the United States.

I hope that you have received more information about our name. I will tell you what I know about it. I'm sure you will have heard it all before but, just in case, here it is: the original Germanic name Haim-Ard meant strong/powerful family (HAIM=home or family; ARD=strong, powerful). Ironically, my parents named me (name withheld), not knowing what it meant; it has the same roots and means "rich family", which I very much hope will come true! My ancestors came from Perigueux in the South West of France. They moved to Bordeaux after 1910. I think there are more Eymards in and around Perigueux there than anywhere else in France. This is most probably due to the fact that Perigueux was one of the capital cities of the Wisigothic "kingdom" which covered large parts of what is now France and Spain and was the result of the great so-called Barbarian Invasions that started in, I believe, the sixth century (you might want to check the dates). The name Eymard was shot to fame much much later in the nineteenth century by a catholic priest who became a saint: Saint Julien Eymard (Saint Peter Julian Eymard). He came from somewhere near Grenoble. There are a few Eymards in Bordeaux, but not as many as there used to be: if you have checked the phone directory for Bordeaux, you may have spotted my grandfather Jean Eymard and my aunt Beatrice Eymard. My great-aunt Mauricette Eymard is ex-directory.

I hope this was of interest to you. I look forward to hearing from you. Furthermore, I would be very grateful if you would let me know whether you have found more details about the origins of our beautiful name and about what kind of people were the first Eymards on American soil.

Yours sincerely,
...(name withheld)...

The Hemard family came to Louisiana in the early 1700's our name is spelled all three ways (Hemard/Eymard/Aymard) we come from the Lorrain region of France both to Canada and the US but we were not part of the Cajun migration. I'm from New Orleans.