Hildegard

While studying my ancient history I found the surname Hillegass came from Hildegard, changed in America... they were wealthy merchants and gave Washington a good sum of money.

I have to dispute the common identification of -gard in female Germanic names with the root of English "yard" (enclosure, cognate with Latin hortis garden). For one thing deuterothemes indicate gender, and "yard" in all the Germanic languages is masculine and only masculine (you don't really need a feminine for "yard"). Further, the Gothic form -gardis and Norse Gerðr imply a word in the i-declension (with i-umlaut of arðiz to erðr), supporting both multiple genders, whereas "yard" is purely masculine a-declension. OE gierd (spar, stick, rod, assimilated to yard "enclosure" as a land measure) is feminine and shows i-umlaut from continental gard-, but the Gothic form is gazds (sting), and we have numerous feminine names ending in -gardis of Gothic origin. A purported "early meaning" of "protection" seems an ignorant association with Romance guarda, but this is merely the Latin dialect pronunciation of Germanic "ward" (again, masculine). Unfortunately it appears Norse -gerðr, Gothic -gardis and German -garde are derived from an older GarðiR, attested only as a feminine name. Some, more distant connection with masculine gardaz is possible, but like many of the most ancient Germanic names (such as Amal, Nerðr, Ingwe etc.), the original meaning, if there even is one, has been lost.

I'm English and 'Hildegard' is apparently where my surname (Norman in origin) derives from. Other names sites claim that Hildegard was the name of a Valkyrie.