Ward (surname)

Some specific coats of arms used by people of the surname Ward- not generally applicable to the surname as is commonly misunderstood: The Viscounts Bangor descending from Bernard Ward, 1st Viscount Bangor bear the arms azure, a cross flory or. A William Ward, of Sudbury, MA, U.S.A., was in 1639 granted arms blazoned Azure, a cross patoncé or.

Ward is a surname of either Old English or Old Gaelic origin, common in English-speaking countries.

The Old English name derives from an occupational surname for a civil guard/keeper of the watch, or alternately as a topographical surname from the word werd ("marsh"). The Old Irish surname is linguistically unrelated, and derives from Mac an Bháird ("son of the Bard"), a bárd being a storyteller or poet. An Irish variant is O'Ward. The oldest public record of the surname dates to 1176.

In the 2010 United States Census, Ward was the 79th most common surname. It is the 78th most common surname in Ireland. It was the 31st most common surname in the 1991 UK census and 40th in 2001 census, and in 2007, was found to be the most common surname in Lutterworth, Leicestershire.

This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.