The surname Foard is of English origin.The name signifies ‘local at the ford’.The name is a topographical one given to someone who lived by a Ford,from the Old English ford.Probably the original bearer occupied an official or occupative position in maintaining a way.At any rate a ford would attract a settlement in its close neighbourhood;hence the familiarity of the surname and place-names with the suffix -ford or -forth. It could thus also be a habitational name for any of the places named with this word.The Irish have used the name as an anglicization of certain Gaelic names,such as,Mac Giolla na Naomh.Jewish people have also used the name as an anglicization of like sounding Jewish names.This surname was brought to America by English and Irish immigrants.The most famous man to bear this name is that of Henry Ford,the great American manufacturer and philanthropist,and founder of the great American icon the Ford Motor Co.His family was founded in America by William Ford,who left Clonakilty,Co.Cork,Ireland,in 1847,and settled at Dearborn Township,Michigan.The surname dates back to the tenth century were a Bruman de la forda is recorded in…
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