WARD Family Members

​Page last updated 4 August 2022.
Meaning (See https://www.familysearch.org/en/surname): 
WARD:
  • English: occupational name for a watchman or guard, from Middle English ward ‘watchman, guard’ (Old English weard, used as both an agent noun and an abstract noun).
  • English: occupational name from Middle English warde ‘armed guard’ (Old English weard ‘watching, guarding’), with the same meaning as 1 above.
  • Irish: shortened form of McWard, an Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac an Bhaird ‘son of the poet’. The surname occurs throughout Ireland, where three different branches of the family are known as professional poets.
  • Jewish (American): adoption of the English name (see above) in place of some similar (like-sounding) original Ashkenazic surname such as Warshawski or Warshawsky.
  • Altered form of French Guérin and Benoît.
  • History: The surname Ward was brought to North America from England independently by several different bearers in the 17th and 18th centuries. Nathaniel Ward (1578-1652), author of the MA legal code, was born in Haverhill, Suffolk, England, and emigrated to Agawam (Ipswich, MA) in 1633. William Ward was one of the original settlers of Sudbury, MA, c. 1638. Miles Ward came from England to Salem, MA, c. 1639. Thomas Ward (died 1689) settled in Newport, RI, in 1671; among his descendants were two governors of colonial RI.

WARD family pages done are: ​​
b. = birth name (if adopted)​
d. = infant’s/child’s year of death
m. = maiden name
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