Havard​.  Not Harvard. Or Howard. Or Hayward. Or Havoc. Or ...

​"How do you spell that?"

"Often."

I am from Montreal. My first name is from Wales.

Havard is a Welsh name. I am named after my grandfather, whose roots go back to the town of Abergavenny in Wales.

The name is also Scandinavian, something that has come up in Winter Olympics. On television I have seen a Havard or two compete for Norway (make that "Håvard"). I have been told that, in Norway, the name means "Strong Guardian," as in a high ranking Norse Viking. 

The history and meaning of the name in Wales, I have also been told, is murky. It has been stated that the name likely arrived in Wales with Sir Walter Havard (his Norman French name was Walter Havre de Grace). I haven't verified that theory and I don't claim ancestry. 

As for my last name, since people ask about that too ... while outside the CBC building in Toronto there is a statue of Glenn Gould, the renowned pianist ... as far as I know we are not related.