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
Gillespie (surname) Gillespie (surname) Gillespie () is both a masculine given name, and a surname in the English language. The given name is an Anglicised form of the Gaelic "Gille Easbaig" (also rendered "Gilleasbaig"), meaning "bishop's servant". The surname "Gillespie" is an Anglicised form of the Scottish Gaelic "Mac Gille Easbuig", and the Irish "Mac Giolla Easpaig", both of which mean "servant of the bishop". The given name itself is derived from a word of Latin origin. Specifically, the Old Irish "epscop" being derived from the Latin "episcopus". An early example of the name in Scotland occurs in a charter dated 1175–1199,