Forde (

Gaeilge Irish (Standard Irish: ), also known as Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Insular Celtic branch of the Celtic language family, which is a part of the Indo-European language family. Irish is indigenous to the island of Ireland and was the p ...

: ''Mac Giollarnáth'') is an Irish

surname In some cultures, a surname, family name, or last name is the portion of one's personal name that indicates one's family, tribe or community. Practices vary by culture. The family name may be placed at either the start of a person's full name ...

derived from a number of

families.

History

The name is popular throughout the four

Provinces of Ireland There have been four Provinces of Ireland: Connacht (Connaught), Leinster, Munster, and Ulster. The Irish language, Irish word for this territorial division, , meaning "fifth part", suggests that there were once five, and at times Kingdom_of_ ...

, especially in

County Galway "Righteousness and Justice" , anthem = () , image_map = Island of Ireland location map Galway.svg , map_caption = Location in Ireland , area_footnotes = , area_total_km2 = ...

County Leitrim County Leitrim ( ; gle, Contae Liatroma) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Connacht and is part of the Northern and Western Region. It is named after the village of Leitrim. Leitrim County Council is the local authority for the ...

and

County Tipperary County Tipperary ( ga, Contae Thiobraid Árann) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. The county is named after the town of Tipperary, and was established in the early 13th century, shortly after th ...

Mac Giolla Naomh and Mac Giollarnáth

"Mac Giolla Naomh," meaning "son of the devotee of the saints" was an Irish

clann A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, meani ...

Sept A sept is a division of a family, especially of a Scottish or Irish family. The term is used in both Scotland and Ireland, where it may be translated as ''sliocht'', meaning "progeny" or "seed", which may indicate the descendants of a person ( ...

that originated in southern

Connemara Connemara (; )( ga, Conamara ) is a region on the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic coast of western County Galway, in the west of Ireland. The area has a strong association with traditional Irish culture and contains much of the Connacht Irish-speak ...

Connacht Connacht ( ; ga, Connachta or ), is one of the provinces of Ireland, in the west of Ireland. Until the ninth century it consisted of several independent major Gaelic kingdoms (Uí Fiachrach, Uí Briúin, Uí Maine, Conmhaícne, and Delbhn ...

. Over the years, however, "Mac Giolla Naomh," which was incorrectly transcribed as Mac Giollarnáth, and then erroneously translated as

Ford (surname) The surname Ford has several origins. In some cases it originated as a name for someone who lived near a ford, and is therefore derived from the Old English and Middle English ''ford''. In some cases, the surname is derived from places named ''Ford ...

or Forde, from the resemblance of the final syllable to Áth, a

Ford (crossing) A ford is a shallow place with good footing where a river or stream may be crossed by wading, or inside a vehicle getting its wheels wet. A ford may occur naturally or be constructed. Fords may be impassable during high water. A low-water cr ...

Mac Consnámha

The name Forde also comes from "Mac Consnámha," or "son of the swimming hound." This Connacht

was the name of a family in

who were formerly chiefs of Muinter Kenny, in the present,

Drumahaire (barony) Drumahaire () is a barony in County Leitrim, Republic of Ireland. Etymology Drumahaire barony takes its name from the village of Dromahair (, "Two Demons Ridge"). The Irish ''thiar'' is a shortening of ''eithiar'', a term that refers to a spir ...

. Often, due to translation the surname was referred to as "Mac an Atha," son of the

, and has therefore been

Anglicised Anglicisation is the process by which a place or person becomes influenced by English culture or British culture, or a process of cultural and/or linguistic change in which something non-English becomes English. It can also refer to the influen ...

as Kinneavy, MacKinnawe or erroneously as Forde.

Ó Fuartháin (Fuaráin)

Lastly, in

County Cork County Cork ( ga, Contae Chorcaí) is the largest and the southernmost county of Ireland, named after the city of Cork, the state's second-largest city. It is in the province of Munster and the Southern Region. Its largest market towns are ...

and

County Waterford County Waterford ( ga, Contae Phort Láirge) is a Counties of Ireland, county in Republic of Ireland, Ireland. It is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Munster and is part of the South-East Region, Ireland, South-East Region. It is named ...

, the name was an

version of Ó Fuaráin, meaning "descendant of Fuarthán". The personal name Fuartháin, derived from the

fuar ("cold"), was once taken to represent the

fuarathán ("cold little ford"), which led to the surname being translated as

or Forde although more often it was

as Foran. The ancestor of

Henry Ford Henry Ford (July 30, 1863 – April 7, 1947) was an American industrialist, business magnate, founder of the Ford Motor Company, and chief developer of the assembly line technique of mass production. By creating the first automobile that mi ...

(USA) came from

in 1847.

Forde variants

Variants of the name Forde include

and

Foord Foord is an English surname, being a variant of Ford. Notable people with the surname include: *Ben Foord, South African boxer * Bert Foord, English meteorologist * Bill Foord, English cricketer *Caitlin Foord, Australian footballer * Heather ...

and is of

Anglo-Saxon The Anglo-Saxons were a Cultural identity, cultural group who inhabited England in the Early Middle Ages. They traced their origins to settlers who came to Britain from mainland Europe in the 5th century. However, the ethnogenesis of the Anglo- ...

descent spreading through the

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language * Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Fo ...

nations. However, this term originally comes from the Norse

fjord In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Ice ...

meaning a narrow inlet of the sea. More recently Forde and

has often been regarded as a locality name meaning 'river crossing' from a person who lived beside a

Ford (river crossing) A ford is a shallow place with good footing where a river or stream may be crossed by wading, or inside a vehicle getting its wheels wet. A ford may occur naturally or be constructed. Fords may be impassable during high water. A low-water cr ...

. Historical Examples of the surname and its derivatives include Richard de la Forde, of Norfolk, England, who was recorded in the

Hundred Rolls The Hundred Rolls are a census of England and parts of what is now Wales taken in the late thirteenth century. Often considered an attempt to produce a second Domesday Book, they are named after the hundreds by which most returns were recorded. Th ...

in the year 1273 and a Thomas de Furd who was a

presbyter Presbyter () is an honorific title for Christian clergy. The word derives from the Greek ''presbyteros,'' which means elder or senior, although many in the Christian antiquity would understand ''presbyteros'' to refer to the bishop functioning as ...

in the diocese of

Saint Andrews St Andrews ( la, S. Andrea(s); sco, Saunt Aundraes; gd, Cill Rìmhinn) is a town on the east coast of Fife in Scotland, southeast of Dundee and northeast of Edinburgh. St Andrews had a recorded population of 16,800 , making it Fife's fou ...

, Scotland, in the year 1406. A Peter ate Ford, was recorded in the Writs of Parliament, in the year 1313 and a Hugh Ford, of Wigan, was recorded in the 'Wills at Chester', in the year 1661. On March 2nd 1589 Izabell Forde and Henry Embertonn were married in St. Giles Cripplegate, London, Sir Ambrose Forde was knighted at Leixlip,

County Kildare County Kildare ( ga, Contae Chill Dara) is a county in Ireland. It is in the province of Leinster and is part of the Eastern and Midland Region. It is named after the town of Kildare. Kildare County Council is the local authority for the county, ...

, by Sir

George Carey (c. 1541 – 1616) Sir George Carey (or Cary) (c. 1541 – 15 February 1616), Justice of the peace, JP, Deputy Lieutenant, DL, of Cockington in the parish of Tor Mohun in Devon, England, was Lord Deputy of Ireland from May 1603 to February 1604. He should not ...

, the Lord Deputy, on August 2nd 1604. The first recorded spelling of the name is shown to be that of Bruman de la Forda, which was dated 1066, in the Book of Winton, Hampshire (included in the

Domesday Book Domesday Book () – the Middle English spelling of "Doomsday Book" – is a manuscript record of the "Great Survey" of much of England and parts of Wales completed in 1086 by order of King William I, known as William the Conqueror. The manusc ...

of 1086), during the reign of

William the Conqueror William I; ang, WillelmI (Bates ''William the Conqueror'' p. 33– 9 September 1087), usually known as William the Conqueror and sometimes William the Bastard, was the first House of Normandy, Norman List of English monarchs#House of Norman ...

, 1066–1087. Thus, there are also many Irish bearers of this name, who are of English origin as many Fords settled in Ireland with the plantation from England, the most notable of these arriving from Devonshire and were landowners in

County Meath County Meath (; gle, Contae na Mí or simply ) is a county in the Eastern and Midland Region of Ireland, within the province of Leinster. It is bordered by Dublin to the southeast, Louth to the northeast, Kildare to the south, Offaly to the sou ...

Forde Coat of Arms

Forde Motto

''Lucrum Christi mihi'' can be translated as "Without Christ, there is no light".

Forde Family Tartan

* Name of

Tartan Tartan ( gd, breacan ) is a patterned cloth consisting of criss-crossed, horizontal and vertical bands in multiple colours. Tartans originated in woven wool, but now they are made in other materials. Tartan is particularly associated with Sc ...

: Forde *

International Tartan Index The Scottish Tartans Society (STS) was a Learned society, society committed to the recording and preservation of woven tartan designs from around the world; it maintained the ''Register of All Publicly Known Tartans''. The society was first form ...

: 829 *

Irish names A formal Irish name consists of a given name and a surname. In the Irish language, surnames are generally patronymic in etymology but are no longer literal patronyms as, for example, most Icelandic names still are. The form of a surname varies ...

Irish clans Irish clans are traditional kinship groups sharing a common surname and heritage and existing in a lineage-based society, originating prior to the 17th century. A clan (or ''fine'' in Irish) included the chief and his patrilineal relatives; howe ...

Colours of the Forde Family Tartan

* Slog: GKY:GYK * Colour Sequence: GKYKRKRKYG

Notable people with the surname Forde include

* Seán Mac Giollarnáth (1880–1970), Irish folklorist *

Bernie Forde Bernie Forde (born 5 November 1957) is an Irish retired hurler who played as a right corner-forward for the Galway senior team. Born in Ardrahan, County Galway, Forde first played competitive hurling in his youth. He made his first impressio ...

(born 1957), Irish retired hurler who played as a right corner-forward for the Galway senior team *

Brinsley Forde Brinsley Forde MBE (born 16 October 1953) is a British singer and actor of Guyanese parentage who is best known as the founder member of the reggae band Aswad and as a child actor in the children's television series '' Here Come the Double D ...

(born 1952), Guyanese actor and musician * Brooke Forde (born 1999), American swimmer JForde

David Forde (soccer) David Forde (born 20 December 1979) is an Irish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper. Internationally, Forde played for the Republic of Ireland between 2011 and 2016 and was part of the team's 23-man squad for the 2012 Eur ...

(born 1979), Irish football player *

Eugenie Forde Eugenie Forde (June 22, 1879 – September 5, 1940) was an American silent film actress. She starred in 73 films between 1912 and 1927 in films such as ''The Diamond from the Sky'' (1915) and '' Wives and Other Wives'' with actors such ...

(1879–1940), American silent film actress *

Evan Forde Evan B. Forde is an American oceanographer at the Atlantic Oceanographic & Meteorological Laboratory (AOML) with the National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). He was the first African-American scientist to perform research in a subme ...

(born 1952), American oceanographer *

Florrie Forde Flora May Augusta Flannagan ( Flannagan; 16 August 187518 April 1940), known professionally as Florrie Forde, was an Australian popular singer and music hall entertainer. From 1897 she lived and worked in the United Kingdom. She was one of the ...

(1876–1940), Australian singer and entertainer *

Frank Forde Francis Michael Forde (18 July 189028 January 1983) was an Australian politician who served as prime minister of Australia from 6 to 13 July 1945. He was the deputy leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) from 1932 to 1946. He served as pri ...

(1890–1983), Australian Prime Minister *

Gerhard Forde Gerhard O. Forde (September 10, 1927 – August 9, 2005) was an American Lutheran theologian who wrote extensively on the Protestant Reformation and Lutheran theology and tradition. Background Gerhard Olaf Forde was born in Pope County, Minn ...

(1927–2005), American Lutheran Theologian *

Jason Forde Jason Forde (born 22 December 1993) is an Irish hurler who plays for Tipperary senior Championship club Silvermines and at inter-county level with the Tipperary senior hurling team. He usually lines out as a left corner-forward. Playing caree ...

, Irish hurler who plays for Tipperary senior hurling team * Jewel Forde, Barbadian television presenter *

Leneen Forde Mary Marguerite Leneen Forde, DStJ (born 12 May 1935) is a retired solicitor and former Chancellor of Griffith University, who served as the 22nd Governor of Queensland from 1992 until 1997. Forde chaired the Commission of Inquiry into Abuse o ...

, Canadian-born solicitor, University chancellor and Governor of Queensland, Australia * Liam Forde (1891–1958), alias of Séamas Ó Maoiléoin (aka James Malone), Irish revolutionary spy Young Frank Forde

* Martin Forde (born 1923), American retired labour union activist *

Mattie Forde Mattie Forde is an Irish Gaelic footballer from Ballyfad, County Wexford, Ireland. He formerly played at senior level for the Wexford county team and received an All Star in 2004. He plays his club football for Kilanerin–Ballyfad, and also ...

, Irish Gaelic footballer * Mike Forde (born 1955), NYC District Council of Carpenters Executive Secretary-Treasurer * Nadia Forde, Irish model, singer and actress * Norman Forde (born 1977), Barbadian footballer *

Pat Forde Pat Forde is a sports journalist who is a national columnist for ''Sports Illustrated''. He previously worked for ESPN, ''The Courier-Journal'' in Louisville, Kentucky, and ''Yahoo Sports''. Personal life and education Forde is a native of C ...

(born c. 1965), American sportswriter *

Patricia Forde Patricia Forde (born ) was former Director of the Galway Arts Festival and an Irish children's author. Forde was raised in Market Street, Galway, a fluent Irish speaker. She became a member of An Taibhdhearc at age ten, both acting and dire ...

(born 1960), former Director of the Galway Arts Festival and an Irish children's author *

Robert Forde Robert Forde (29 August 1875 – 13 March 1959) was an Antarctic explorer and member of the Terra Nova Expedition under Captain Robert Falcon Scott from 1910–1912. Early life Robert Forde was born in rural parish of Moviddy near Bandon 1 ...

(1875–1959), Antarctic explorer and member of the Terra Nova Expedition under Captain Robert Falcon Scott * Samuel Forde (1805–1828), Irish painter * Shaq Forde (born 2004), English footballer *

Shawna Forde On May 30, 2009, 29-year-old Raul Flores Jr. and his daughter, nine-year-old Brisenia Ylianna Flores, were murdered during a home invasion in Arivaca, Arizona, Arivaca, Arizona. The perpetrators were Shawna Forde, Jason Eugene Bush and Albert Gax ...

(born 1967), American anti-illegal immigration activist charged with murder in 2009 *

Sheri Forde Sheri Forde (born Sheri Hargrave; June 18, 1968) is a Canadian reporter on '' Sportsnet Tonight'', and formerly of The Sports Network (TSN), based in Toronto, Ontario. She has reported on the various Toronto sports teams. Forde joined TSN in 1998 ...

, Canadian sports reporter * Tommy Forde (1931–2012) Northern Irish professional footballer *

Victoria Forde Victoria Forde (April 21, 1896 – July 24, 1964) was an American silent film actress. Biography Born in New York City, Victoria Forde was the daughter of Broadway theatre, Broadway actress Eugenie Forde who got her into films with American Mu ...

(1896–1964), American silent film actress. *

Walter Forde Walter Forde (born Thomas Seymour Woolford, 21 April 1898 – 7 January 1984) was a British actor, screenwriter and Film director, director. Born in Lambeth, south London in 1898, he directed over fifty films between 1919 from the silent era ...

(1898–1984), British actor, screenwriter and director.

References

{{surname, Forde