Hardy is an English surname that became a first name; it comes from the Old French and Middle English hardi and means "bold" or "courageous", the same word that survives in the adjective hardy. The novelist Thomas Hardy and the comedy duo Laurel and Hardy made the surname familiar, and it fits the current taste for short, sturdy surname names like Brady and Grady. In the United States Hardy stood at number 6497 in 2000, peaked at number 2278 in 2022 and ranks number 2496 for boys in 2025.