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The ford Surname

ford Name Meaning and History

  1. English: topographic name for someone who lived near a ford, Middle English, Old English ford, or a habitational name from one of the many places named with this word, such as Ford in Northumberland, Shropshire, and West Sussex, or Forde in Dorset.
  2. Irish: Anglicized form (quasi-translation) of various Gaelic names, for example Mac Giolla na Naomh ‘son of Gilla na Naomh’ (a personal name meaning ‘servant of the saints’), Mac Conshámha ‘son of Conshnámha’ (a personal name composed of the elements con ‘dog’ + snámh ‘to swim’), in all of which the final syllable was wrongly thought to be áth ‘ford’, and Ó Fuar(th)áin (see Foran).
  3. Jewish: Americanized form of one or more like-sounding Jewish surnames.
  4. Translation of German Fürth (see Furth).

Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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The ford name in History

A unique volume of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary following the ford family name as far back in history as possible.

ford Family Facts

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Distribution of ford Families in the US in 1920
Number of ford families
 1040-2077
 347-1039		 1-346
 0
Compiled by Ancestry.com from the 1920 US Federal Census records

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Year

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