A German and English surname, the Holder name comes from Middle High German term of ‘holder’ which refers to the oldest tree near a residence protecting the house. From the Old English terms ‘healdan’ and ‘haldan’ it meant the keeper of the land or caretaker of the animals. The spelling variations for Holder include Holders, Hold, Holde, Holdeim and Holdere. In England the Holder family name started in Gloucestershire, near the Wales border, and later became concentrated in the city of London, Kent, Middlesex, Surrey, Sussex, Berkshire, Wiltshire, Warwickshire, Staffordshire, Yorkshire and Lancashire counties. In Scotland the few locations for the residences of Holder families are Midlothian, Angus, Lanarkshire and Banffshire. Within the United States the Holder family name originated in North Carolina, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Georgia and Alabama. Famous: Neville “Noddy” Holder (actor and musician from England), Albrecht Holder (classical bassoonist player from Germany), Charles Frederick Holder (championship sports fisherman and author), Nancy Holder (novelist), Adrian Holder (songwriter and singer from England), Burton Allen Holder (Civil War Confederate officer of the First Native Indian Texas Regiment), Roy Holder (actor from England) and Geoffrey Holder (actor and dancer).