A male name. the existence of an Old English Richeard, compound of rice ‘rule’ and heard ‘hard’, is not certain, though both elements were in use, and the great popularity of the name Richard in the Middle Ages was due to importation from the Continent, the Normans bringing in French Richard (from the corresponding Old German Ricohard). Richard and Ricard were equally common in the Middle Ages, together with many nicknames and diminutive, such as Rich, Richie, Hitch, Rick, Hick, Dick, Dickon, Ricket, Hicket, which in turn gave rise to an immense number of surnames. Richard has maintained its position as one of the half-dozen favourite men’s names with singularly little fluctuation of fashion, though it was rather less common in the 18th C. Richie is still used as a pet-form in the USA, but Dick is universal in England. Dick and Hick (now obsolete) were among the earliest of this kind of rhyming nickname (cf. Polly from Molly, Bob from Rob, Hodge from Roger), the first example noted being a record in Curia Regis Rolls 1220 ‘quidam Dicke Smith’. Dick, like Jack, was formerly used as an expression for a man, e.g. ‘You are a gone dick'. The proverbial Any Tom, Dick, or Harry is indicative of the long-established popularity of the name. The peculiar pet- form Hudde, which was common in the 13th and 14th C, has long been obsolete, though its traces survive in the surnames Hudd, Hudson; C. W. Bardsley, Dictionary of English and WelshSurnames (pub. 1901) gives examples which prove that Hudd was a form of Richard, e.g. ‘Ricardus dictus Hudde de Walkden’, ‘Ricardus de Knapton et Cristiana hud-wyf’.

Ricard, Ricardus Domesday Book 1086, Curia Regis Rolls 1186-1220, Hundred Rolls 1273. Ricard Exchequer Rolls 1306. Rycharde Promptorium Parvulorum c. 1440.