Forde — Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Mac Giolla na Naomh
Meaning: 'English rendering of several Gaelic surnames'
Traditional stronghold: Cork, Galway, Leitrim
Pronunciation: FORD; Irish Mac Giolla na Naomh: mok GIL-ah nah NAYV
History of the Forde name
Forde in Ireland usually disguises a Gaelic original rather than marking English settlement. Three separate names were rendered Ford or Forde: Mac Giolla na Naomh, 'son of the devotee of the saints', in south Galway; Mac Conshnámha, 'son of the hound of swimming', anglicised through a fancied connection with snámh, in Co. Leitrim, where the family were chiefs under the O'Rourkes; and Ó Fuartháin in Co. Cork, whose name was linked to áth, a ford. The spelling with the final e is characteristically Irish. Galway remains the name's stronghold. Bearers have included the Land League journalist Patrick Ford, whose New York paper Irish World bankrolled the land war, and Frank Forde, briefly Prime Minister of Australia.
Variants: Ford · MacKinawe · Foran
Famous bearers of the name
- Patrick Ford — Galway-born editor of the New York Irish World, chief American fundraiser of the Land League.
- Frank Forde — Australian Prime Minister for eight days in 1945, son of Irish emigrants.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Murphy · Kelly · O'Sullivan · McCarthy · Lynch · Connolly · Daly · Burke