# Ward (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/ward/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

An English surname originating as an occupation for a guard or watchman.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 260,464 |
| US rank (2010) | 79 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 1,185 people |
| Change since 2000 | +2.5% (254,121 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /wɔɹd/, 1 syllable |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As an English surname, from the noun ward and related cognates such as warden, guard etc. * As an Irish surname, reduced from McWard, from mac an bard (“son of the poet”). * As a Jewish surname, adapted from Warshawski, named after Warsaw. Comparable to Warszawski. * As a French surname, Americanized from Guerin.

## Who carries it

Share of people named Ward in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 76% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 19% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 2.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.9% |
| Two or more races | 2.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Ward in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Ireland and Canada.

## People named Ward

- Sela Ward, American actress, author, and producer
- Fred Ward, American actor (1942–2022)
- Julia Ward Howe, American abolitionist, social activist, and poet
- Gemma Ward, Australian model and actress
- Rachel Ward, British actress
- Jesmyn Ward, American writer
- Burt Ward, American actor
- Andre Ward, American boxer
- Pendleton Ward, American animator
- Maitland Ward, American actress and model
- Anita Ward, American singer and musician (born 1956)
- Mary Ward, Anglo-Irish scientist and writer (1827-1869)

and 78 more on Wikidata.

## Similar surnames

Word, Warda, Wirth, Worthy, Worth, Wert, Werth, Wirt, Worthey, Wurth.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.