Ford (surname)

The surname Ford has several origins. In some cases it originated as a name for someone who lived near a ford,[1] and is therefore derived from the Old English and Middle English ford.[2] In some cases, the surname is derived from places named Ford. Examples of such places include Ford in Northumberland[3] (from Old English ford),[4] a place in Somerset,[5] Ford in Shropshire[3] (from Old English ford),[4] Ford in West Sussex[3] (from Old English ford),[4] and Forde in Dorset.[3]

In other cases, the surname is sometimes an anglicised form of three Irish surnames. Two such surnames are Mac Giolla na Naomh, a name meaning "son of Gilla na Naomh"; and Mac Conshámha, a name meaning "son of Conshnámha".[6] These surnames were anglicised Ford because their final syllable was once erroneously thought to be the Irish áth ("ford").[3] Another Irish surname anglicised Ford is Ó Fuartháin, a name meaning "descendant of Fuarthán".[7] The personal name Fuartháin, derived from the Irish fuar ("cold"), was once taken to represent the Irish fuarathán ("cold little ford"), which led the name to be erroneously translated "ford".[8] The former two Irish surnames were borne by septs centred in the province of Connacht, whilst the latter was borne by a sept centred in County Cork (in the province of Munster).[9]

In some cases the surname Ford is an americanized form of like-sounding Jewish surnames, or else a translated form of the German Fürth.[3] Early instances of the surname Ford include de la forda in the eleventh century, æt Fordan in the twelfth-century, de la Forthe in the thirteenth-century, and Foorde[10] and de Furd in the fifteenth century.[11] The surname Ford, when found in Ireland, may be of English or Irish origin since many Ford families have immigrated to Ireland at various times in history. For example, a particular noted family of the name in County Meath emigrated from Devon in the fourteenth century.[12] In Ireland, birth records for the year 1890 reveal that the surname Ford was much less common than the variant Forde (154 births compared to only 39).[13]

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  • E. B. Ford (1901–1988), British ecological geneticist
  • Edgar Ford (1876–1943), English cricketer
  • Edsel Ford (1893–1943), American businessman, president of Ford Motor Company, son of Henry Ford
  • Eileen Ford (1922–2014), American model agency executive and co-founder of Ford Models
  • Elena Ford (born 1966), director within the Ford Motor Company, great-great granddaughter of Henry Ford
  • Emile Ford (1937–2016), West Indian-born musician and sound engineer

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See also

References

Notes

  1. Ford Family History; Reaney 2006 p. 1200; Reaney 1995 p. 174; Black 1971 pp. 271–272.
  2. Ford Family History; Reaney 2006 p. 1200; Reaney 1995 p. 174.
  3. Ford Family History.
  4. Mills 2003.
  5. Reaney 2006 p. 1200; Reaney 1995 p. 174.
  6. Ford Family History; Grehan 1997 p. 125; The Great Families of Ireland p. 145; MacLysaght 1972 pp. 150–151.
  7. Ford Family History; Foran Family History; Grehan 1997 p. 124; The Great Families of Ireland p. 145; MacLysaght 1972 pp. 150–151.
  8. Ford Family History; Foran Family History.
  9. Grehan 1997 pp. 124–125; O'Laughlin 1992 p. 114; The Great Families of Ireland p. 145; MacLysaght 1972 pp. 150–151.
  10. Reaney 2006 p. 1200; Reaney 1995 p. 174.
  11. Black 1971 pp. 271–272.
  12. Grehan 1997 p. 125; O'Laughlin 1992 p. 114; The Great Families of Ireland p. 145; MacLysaght 1972 pp. 150–151.
  13. The Great Families of Ireland p. 145.

Sources

  • "Foran Family History". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 16 June 2014. This webpage contains an excerpt of Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press.
  • "Ford Family History". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 16 June 2014. This webpage contains an excerpt of Dictionary of American Family Names. Oxford University Press.
  • Black, GF (1971) [1946]. The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning, and History. New York: New York Public Library. ISBN 0-87104-172-3. Accessed via Open Library.
  • Grehan, I (1997). The Dictionary of Irish Family Names. Boulder: Robert Rineheart Publishers. ISBN 1-57098-137-X. Accessed via Open Library.
  • MacLysaght, E (1972). Irish Families: Their Names, Arms and Origins (3rd ed.). New York: Crown Publishers. OL 23251759M. Accessed via Open Library.
  • Mills, AD (2003). A Dictionary of British Place-names (EPUB). Oxford Paperback Reference. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-852758-6.
  • O'Laughlin, M (1992). The Book of Irish Families Great & Small. Kansas City: Irish Genealogical Foundation. ISBN 0-940134-08-X. Accessed via Open Library.
  • Reaney, PH (2006). Wilson, RM (ed.). A Dictionary of English Surnames (3rd ed.). London: Routledge. ISBN 0-203-99355-1.
  • Reaney, PH (1995). Wilson, RM (ed.). A Dictionary of English Surnames (3rd ed.). Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-8631464.
  • The Great Families of Ireland. Irish Genealogical Foundation. 1981. ISBN 0-940134-11-X. Accessed via Open Library.
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