This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Hubert' (St. Hubert, patron of hunters). Once very popular as Hubbard and Hubberd. 'Old Mother Hubbard' may have represented a feminine form. There were sure to have been plenty of Hubertas who would be Hubbard in common life.

Hubertus de Vail, Pipe Roll, 5 Henry II. Hubertus Monetarius, Pipe Poll, 5 Henry II.

Osbert Houbard, Somerset, Edward III: Kirby's Quest.

Hubert le Priur, Close Roll, 54 Henry III.

Hubert Blakewhit, Close Rolls, 23 Edward III. pt.

Petrus Hubard, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

Alicia Hubard, 1379: ibid.

Isabella Hoberd, 1379: ibid.

1559. Married — John Tonnstall and Jane Hubbarde, or Hubberte: St. Michael, Cornhill.

This surname is derived from the name of an ancestor. 'the son of Hubert.' An early variant; v. Hubert.

William Hoberd, 1379: Poll Tax of Yorkshire.

With the above compare 1759. Married — James Hobbard and Amelia Graves: St. George, Hanover Square.

The Visitation of Essex (1541) gives the surname of the family of Huberd indiscriminately as Huberd, Hobert, Hubert, and Hobart (v. Index, pp. 804-5). Memorials of a family spelt indifferently Hubbard or Hobart are (or were) to be found in Little Plumstead Church, Norfolk (FF. vii. 247-8).

1615. Miles Hobart, of London: Register of the University of Oxford.

Patrick Hobart, burgess of Dundee, 1649 (Inquis., 3515). A variant of Hubert, from Old English Hygebeorht, meaning 'bright mind.'

1 a nickname from the small Falcon or Hawk so called [Old French hobert, a hobby, hawk] 2 the Old Teutonic Hobert = High-Bright [O.H.Ger. Old Saxon hóh, high + ber(h)t, bright] 3 occasionally for Hubert, q.v.

(English) Corruption of Hubert (mind, bright).

Probably another form of Hubert.

A corruption of Hubert.

(Anglo—Saxon.) A corruption of Hubert, i. e., bright form, fair hope.

1. Roger, Ralph Hubert, Norm. 1198 (Magni Rotuli Scaccarii Normanniae); John and Geoffry H., England, c. 1272 (Rotuli Hundredorum); 2. Hobart or De Criquetot, from C. near Dieppe, Normandy; a baronial family in England. Ansgar de C., who accompanied the Conqueror, held lands in Suffolk from Mandeville in 1086. Hugo Fitz-Ansgar occurs 1130 (Rot. Pip.). In 1165 Hubert de Criketot, his son, held two fees from Mandeville (Liber Niger). He had, 1. Humfrid de Criketot, ancestor of the Barons C.; 2. Hubert Fitz-Hubert; 3. Richard Fitz-Hubert, who were parties in a suit in Essex 1194 (Rotuli Curiae Regis). From Hubert Fitz-H. descended the Fitz- Huberts or Huberts of Tye and Hubert’s Hall in Harlow, Essex, which places were within the Honour of Mandeville. Geoffry H. of this line, t. Henry III., had Simon; and t. Edward HI., Robert Hubard or Hubert was of Harlowe, Essex (Morant, ii. 484). In 1389 John H. was Lord of Tye. Collins gives an account of the family from this time till c. 1450, when it passed into Norfolk, and his account is confirmed by Blomefield, Norfolk (v. 395). In the reign of Henry VII. Sir James Hubert or Hobart became Attorney-General. His great grandson was Lord Chief Justice, and from him descend the Earls of Buckinghamshire.

Hubbard is a characteristic Norfolk name. The early form of the name in this and the neighbouring counties, both in Domesday times and in the centuries immediately following, was Hubert, occasionally written Huberd (H. R.); and we find that Robert Hubert or Hoberd was rector of Seaming at the close of the 14th century (Bl.) Thence, the transition to Hubberd, and on to Hubbard is an easy one. In the 16th century the living of Witton was in the gift of the family of Hubbard or Hubberd (Bl.); and two Norfolk gentlemen of the name (Hubbard and Hubberd) contributed £25 apiece towards the Spanish Armada fund in 1588. The old distinguished Norfolk family of Hobart, going back to the time of Henry VIII., similarly derived their name from Hubert or Huberd; but their name is at present but little represented in Norfolk, where Hubbard, as above remarked, occurs in numbers.