where does the last name ward come from
Ward (surname) 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.[3]