Where the Gardner name comes from

Gardner began as an occupational surname from Middle English, and it meant a gardener. The word came through the Old Norman gardinier, which modern French spells jardinier. Some name scholars trace an older Old English root instead, gar-dyn, meaning a warrior or one who bears arms. In Ireland after the Norman Conquest of England, the Gaelic form of the name was Mac Gairnéir, which also meant gardener.

One of the earliest recorded bearers was Anger Gardiner, in Lincolnshire before 1166. William le Gardinier appears in Rutland in 1199, and Walter le Gardiner in London in 1292. The name has been spelled Gardyner, Gardener and Gardiner, but Gardiner and Gardner are the two most common today.