The associated coat of arms for this name are recorded in J.B Rietstaps Armorial General. Illustrated by V & H.V Rolland's. This Monumental work took 23 years to complete and 85,000 coats of Arms are included in this work. This German surname of ANHALT is of the locational group of surnames meaning 'one who came from ANHOLT' (at the wood) the name of several places in Germany. The name is also spelt HALDIMAND, AULT, ALT, AULTER, HALTER, HALDNER, HALDERMANN, HALD, HALT and HALDE. Surnames which were derived from ancient Germanic personal names have the same meaning in many languages. The court of Charlemagne (Charles the Great, king of the Franks (742-814) was Christian and Latin speaking). The vernacular was the Frankish dialect of Old High German, and the personal names in use were Germanic and vernacular. These names were adopted in many parts of northwest Europe, particularly among the noble ruling classes. Hereditary surnames were found in Germany in the second half of the 12th century - a little later than in England and France. It was about the 16th century that they became stabilized. Because of the close relationship between the English and German languages, some Germans are able to transform their names to the English form just by dropping a single letter. Many Germans have re-spelt their names in America. A great number of immigrants from Germany settled in Pennsylvania. After the start of the first World War, Germans in great numbers Anglicized their names in an effort to remove all doubt as to their patriotism. Afterwards some changed back, and then during World War II the problem became acute once more, and the changing started all over again, although not with as much intensity. A notable member of the name was Sir Frederick HALDIMAND (1718-91) the Swiss-born British soldier, born in the canton of Neuchatel. From 1756 he commanded British regiments or garrisons in the American colonial wars with the French and the Indians, including Amherst's expedition against Montreal in 1760. He was commander of the British army in North America at Boston (1773-74) and from 1778 to 1784 was governor of Canada.