Packard

P3A1C3K5A1R1D2
US/ˈpækɚd/

proper noun

A surname.

CommonScrabble 16
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Meanings

proper nounPackard (plural Packards)

plural Packards

  1. A surname.
  2. A former brand of automobile (often associated with wealth and luxury in the 1920s through 1940s).

    He finally forced himself to stick out his thumb when a white Packard with midnight blue trim rounded the bend.

    2019, Colson Whitehead, The Nickel Boys, Fleet, page 149
  3. A ghost town in Whitley County, Kentucky, United States.

Origin

Genealogy websites offer three or four hypotheses about the surname; none is confirmed. (Ideas include possible cognation with packer or with Pickard; evidence for or against is not presented.) The automotive brand is from the surname, via the brothers James Ward Packard and William Doud Packard. The ghost town in Kentucky, is named after a certain Amelia Packard.

Full word history & related roots →
Cite this entry
APA

Packard. (n.d.). In WatkinsX Dictionary. Retrieved November 2, 2026, from https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Packard

MLA

“Packard.” WatkinsX Dictionary, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Packard. Accessed November 2, 2026.

Chicago

WatkinsX Dictionary, s.v. “Packard,” accessed November 2, 2026, https://dictionary.watkinsx.com/word/Packard.

Source: Packard on Wiktionary, CC BY-SA 4.0.