Warde surname history

Ward is common and widespread throughout Ireland, England and Wales. In Britain it is generally an occupational surname, derived from the Old English weard, meaning "guard". Some in Ireland may be of English stock, as, for example, in the case of the family who now hold the title of Viscounts Bangor in Co. Down. In the vast majority of cases, however, Ward in Ireland is the anglicisation of Mac an Bhaird, (MacAvard) meaning "son of the poet (bard)", also r very rarely anglicised as "Vard"; the equivalent Scottish surname almost always became "c". Two families are historically prominent, one based near the modern town of Ballinasloe in Co Galway and the other near Glenties in Co. Donegal. Both families were professional hereditary poets, as their surname implies, to the O'Kellys and the O'Donnells respectively. A branch of the northern family also became poets to the O'Neills in Co. Tyrone. Today the largest single concentrations of the surname are to be found in the original homelands, counties Galway and Donegal.

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