GIFFORD. GIFFARD. The old historical Gifl'ards of Normandy and England descended from the De Bollebecs, who were connected by marriae with Richard I., Duke of Noi-mandy. Walter, son of Osborne de Bollebec, though surnamed " Giffard," or " the Liberal," seems also to have been conservatwe in the acquisition and retention of lands; for he got not only the fair domain of Longueville, near Dieppe, from Eichard II. of Normandy, vho created him Count de Longueville, but also the Earldom of Buckingham, with above a hundred manors in various counties of England, from William I., whom he had accompanied to the Conquest of this country. In Leland's time there were four "notable houses" of Gifibrd remaining in England, in the cos. of Devon, Southampton, Staflbrd, and Buckingham. At the present time the only one of these existing is the Staffordshire family, whose ancestor married the heiress of Corbosone, temp. King Stephen, and thus became Lord of Chillington, which has ever since been the abode of his posterity. Shirley's Noble and Gentle Men of England.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.