The name of the village probably relates to Gisa, Bishop of Wells, who was one of the principal episcopal landowners of Somerset at the time of the Domesday Book in 1086. Lydeard is a compound of two Saxon personal names Lide (Lloyd) and Geard, the latter remaining as a local name, "Yarde". As well as a personal name, geard means 'a fence, enclosure, courtyard or dwelling'.[2]