The surname of ARDERN was a locational name 'of Arderne' a spot in East Cheshire. The family have resided at Harden Hall for many centuries. In the middle ages it was customary for a man to be named after the village where he held his land: this name identified his whole family and followed him wherever he moved. It could have been his place of birth, or the name of his land-holding. Early records of the name mention Heloise de Ardron, 1177 East Cheshire. Edward Arden of Yorkshire was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax of 1379. William Arden of Timperley, Cheshire, was listed in the Wills at Chester in 1545. John Ardrene was Mayor or Stockport in 1524. William Ardrene and Alice Smith were married in Canterbury, Kent in the year 1662. Between the 11th and 15th centuries it became customary for surnames to be assumed in Europe, but were not commonplace in England or Scotland before the Norman Conquest of 1066. They are to be found in the Domesday Book of 1086. Those of gentler blood assumed surnames at this time, but it was not until the reign of Edward II (1307-1327) that second names became general practice for all people. Habitation names were originally acquired by the original bearer of the name, who, having lived by, at or near a place, would then take that name as a form of identification for himself and his family. When people lived close to the soil as they did in the Middle Ages, they were acutely conscious of every local variation in landscape and countryside. Every field or plot of land was identified in normal conversation by a descriptive term. If a man lived on or near a hill or mountain, or by a river or stream, forests and trees, he might receive the word as a family name. Almost every town, city or village in early times, has served to name many families.

The associated arms are recorded in Sir Bernard Burkes General Armory. Ulster King of Arms in 1884.