Ward (surname) Ward (surname) Ward is a popular Old English origin and Old Gaelic origin surname dating to before the Norman conquest of 1066 and Ireland, 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 Gaelic surname derives from "Mac an Bhaird" ("son of the Bard"), a bard being a storyteller or poet. The two names are completely unrelated ethnically one being Germanic and the other Celtic. The oldest public record of the surname dates to 1176. In
Mac Aodhagáin Flann Mac Aodhagáin up to the year 1643. The surname has been Anglicised in a variety of ways, including as Mac Egan, Egan, Eagan, Keegan, or Keigan, McKiegan, and McKagan. Muirchertach Mac Aodhagáin Muirchertach Mac Aodhagáin Muirchertach Mac Aodhagáin Muirchertach Mac Aodhagáin Muirchertach Mac Aodhagáin Muirchertach Mac Aodhagáin Muirchertach Mac Aodhagáin Mac Aodhagáin Mac Aodhagáin (English: Egan or Keegan), is an Irish Gaelic clan of Brehons who were hereditary lawyers - firstly to the Ó Conchobhair Kings of Connacht, and later to the Burkes of Clanricarde. The earliest surviving Irish law manuscript, "In Senchas Már", was written prior to 1350