Dillard

Meaning of Dillard

Dillard walks onto the baby-name stage with the quiet confidence of a Southern gentleman who’s secretly a sprinter. Rooted in an English-French surname that likely began as “de la Tille”—a reference to fertile, tilled land—Dillard carries a down-to-earth meaning of “from the cultivated valley,” yet it still feels refined enough for monogrammed stationery. In the United States it’s long been a family-name-turned-first-name, especially below the Mason-Dixon line; Georgia birth records show Dillard popping up steadily through the 1920s and ’30s, proof that the name has deep Dixie cred without ever crashing the national charts. Modern ears might connect it to Pulitzer-winning author Annie Dillard, Olympic gold-medalist Harrison Dillard, or the storied HBCU Dillard University—each one adding a layer of literary, athletic, or academic shine. Pronounced friendly as DIL-erd, the name feels familiar yet rare, like finding a vintage bow tie in perfect condition. For parents hunting a boy’s name that pairs gentlemanly polish with a dash of track-meet energy, Dillard delivers.