This surname of ARD was originally from the family of De LARD and took their name from The Aird a district in the Vale of Beauly. There are persons of this name still in Rosskeen. In July l297 a writer believed to have been William Fitzwarine, then the constable of Urquhart Castle, wrote to Edward l, stating that John del Ard or de Laarde, to whom he was indebted for his personal safety and the lives of his children, had a son Cristin who was taken prisoner in Dunbar Castle the year before. The writer begged that this son may be sent to his assistance at Urquhart as his appearance there would be of great service to the English. The request was not granted and Cristin remained a prisoner until l302. Alba, the country which became Scotland, was once shared by four races; the Picts who controlled most of the land north of the Central Belt; the Britons, who had their capital at Dumbarton and held sway over the south west, including modern Cumbria; the Angles, who were Germanic in origin and annexed much of the Eastern Borders in the seventh century, and the Scots. The latter came to Alba from the north of Ireland late in the 5th century to establish a colony in present day Argyll, which they named Dalriada, after their homeland. The Latin name SCOTTI simply means a Gaelic speaker. Other records of the name include ANDREW De ARD who was a charter witness in l32l and provision of a canonry of Aberdeen was made to DAVID De LARD in l336. John Filius Hugonis De Cristino De ARD held land in Inverness in l36l. A later instance of the name includes Donald ARD who was servitor to the Bishop of Moray in l547. In the Middle Ages heraldry came into use as a practical matter. It originated in the devices used to distinguish the armoured warriors in tournament and war, and was also placed on seals as marks of identity. As far as records show, true heraldry began in the middle of the 12th century, and appeared almost simultaneously in several countries of Western Europe.