When Curoi mac Daire defeated Cuchulainn in single combat he cut off his hair and beard, and Cuchulainn was so humiliated that he stayed in hiding till both his hair and beard were sufficiently long to be presentable. And whereas it was regarded as a disgrace to have the hair and beard trimmed, the wearing of a beard bound the wearer by laws of honour to be brave and generous, never to retreat in battle, never to resort to mean ways of fighting, never to engage in manual or servile labour, and to be always ready to relieve distress. Only nobles, chiefs and warriors were permitted to wear the full beard; working people were prohibited from wearing such, and were expected to shave at least once a month. It is said that the bearded ones gave more time to this part of the toilet than women, but the shaving must have been a pretty onerous task.
The Anglo-Irish Parliament of 1465 prohibited the wearing a mustache or crommeal by the Irish within the Pale, and insisted that they shave the upper lip like the English. Indeed generations of English after the 11th century conquest were in general cleanshaven; those who wore a beard came to acquire the surname Beard. (It might also derive from "bank, hillside").
And though the surname Beard is found nine times in the current island telephone directories, de Bhulbh's Sloinnte na hEireann/ Surnames of Ireland does not list it. Mac Lysaght's The Surnames of Ireland says the name is on record in Laois, Dublin and Waterford since the 16th century, though now rare. It is an occasional variant of the totally unrelated name Baird.
Hart's Irish Pedigrees numbers the bearers of this name among the Adventurers for Lands in Ireland 1642-46, though the name was in Ireland much earlier. Roger Berde was constable of Limerick castle in 1311 and of Trim castle the following year. John Berd was among the jurors at a hearing in Kildare in 1311, and Richard Berd, serjeant of the King in 1312, nabbed John, son of Andrew de Nasshe, in the act of stealing in Thurles. The following year William Berd was among the jury at a hearing in Cork. William Berde, servant, is listed in the Dublin City Franchise Roll for the year 1492.
The Irish Fiants of the Tudor Sovereigns inform us that Richard Beard, clerk, was made Archbishop of Cashel in 1564, and the following year was presented to the vicarage of Saints Quoan and Brogan of Mothell, and to the diocese of Waterford. In 1588 Patrick Crosbey, gent, was granted the wardship and marriage of Thomas Beard, son of William Beard, late of Colte, Queen's co (now Laois). Listellan, in the Co Monaghan parish of Killeevan, was the location of titulado Richard Beard, according to A Census of Ireland 1659, with Thomas Beard titulado of Collte, in Co Laois. Joseph Beard enrolled in the Quaker school at Ballytore, Co Kildare in 1754.
Richard Beard, tallow chandler, Birr, Co Offaly, made his will in 1793, and Samuel Beard, Pill Lane, Dublin, and John Beard, old town of Larne, were mentioned in wills of 1808 and 1800. James Beard's five acres at Ballintaggart, Co Down, was the only Beard holding in all Ireland, according to Owners of Land of One Acre and Upwards (1876).
The Directory of 1814 shows Mr T. Haslam as residing at Colt, with other Haslams at Springfield, and Janeville, Ballinakill, both in the same county. The English surname Haslam is both a toponymic and a locative (dweller by the hazels). It first appears in Ireland in the person of army officers (not Cromwellian) in mid-17th century and has since been closely associated with Cos Leix and Offaly (Mac Lysaght's The Surnames of Ireland).
The Haslams fared better than the Beards in Owners, having several small holdings. There was four acres at Frankford, Bally boy, Co Offaly; three holdings in Co Laois - one of 17 acres at Durrow, one of four at Corbally, Rosenallis, nine at an unnamed location, and two acres in Carrick-on-Suir, Co Tipperary. Today's telephone directories list 40 of the name, which apart from the Dublin 01 area are largely in Cos Laois and Offaly. There are but two north of the Border.
Colt was variously spelt Colt, Colte and Coolte, and appears to derive from coillte, "woods".