(male) One of the many French names of Germanic origin that were introduced into Britain by the Normans; it has since remained in continuous use. It is derived from the nearly synonymous elements hrōd ‘fame’ + berht ‘bright, famous’, and had a native Old English predecessor of similar form (Hreodbeorht), which was supplanted by the Norman name. Two dukes of Normandy in the 11th century bore the name: the father of William the Conqueror (sometimes identified with the legendary Robert the Devil), and his eldest son. It was borne also by three kings of Scotland, notably Robert the Bruce (1274–1329), who freed Scotland from English domination. The altered short form Bob is very common, but Hob and Dob, which were common in the Middle Ages and gave rise to surnames, are extinct. See also Rupert.
Short forms: Bob, Rob.
Pet forms: Bobby, Robbie, Robin.
Cognates: Irish: Roibéard. Scottish Gaelic: Raibeart. German: Robert, Rupprecht. Dutch: Robrecht, Rob(b)ert. Scandinavian: Robert. French: Robert. Spanish, Portuguese, Italian: Roberto. Czech: Robert. Finnish: Roopertti. Hungarian: Róbert. Latvian: Roberts.
English: occupational name for a watchman or guard, from Old English weard ‘guard’ (used as both an agent noun and an abstract noun).
Irish: reduced 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.
Surname adopted by bearers of the Jewish surname Warshawski, Warshawsky or some other Jewish name bearing some similarity to the English name.
Americanized form of French Guerin.
FOREBEARS 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, in about 1638. Miles Ward came from England to Salem, MA, in about 1639. Thomas Ward (d. 1689) settled in Newport, RI, in 1671; among his descendants were two governors of colonial RI.
