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 Amhalghaidh "Nic Amhalghaidh". This feminine surname is actually a contracted form of "iníon Mhic Amhalghaidh", which translates into English as "daughter of "Mac Amhalghaidh"". The form of the surname for married females is "Bean Mhic Amhalghaidh", which translates into English as "wife of "Mac Amhalghaidh""; this feminine surname can also be represented in the contracted form "Mhic Amhalghaidh". A cognate of the Irish "Mac Amhalghaidh" is the Scottish Gaelic "MacAmhalghaidh". The feminine form of this Scottish Gaelic surname is "NicAmhalghaidh". This feminine name is composed of the prefix "Nic-", which is an abbreviated form of the Scottish Gaelic "nighean mhic" or