Adelard is of Germanic origin, derived from the elements 'adal', meaning noble, and 'hardu', meaning strong, brave. It was a popular given name among the Lombards, an East Germanic tribe, and later among the French during the Middle Ages. The name Adelard is often associated with Adelard of Bath, a 12th-century scholar who played a significant role in translating scientific works from Arabic to Latin, contributing to the transmission of knowledge during the European Renaissance.
The name Adelard experienced significant fluctuations in popularity over the century, with peaks in the early 1900s and again during World War I. However, it appears to have fallen out of favor by the mid-1930s.