Given name & surname · also French
Ware
“horse pond”
Ware is a surname with more than one origin.
Meaning & origin
What it means
As an English surname, Ware goes back to Middle English wayour, meaning “horse pond.”
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Where it comes from
Ware has more than one origin: as an English surname, it comes from Middle English wayour; as a West Flemish surname, it comes from Middle Dutch weder.
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
How it developed
From Middle English wayour (“horse pond”), from Proto-Germanic *wadą (“shallow water”).
Adapted from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0)
The story
Published U.S. birth records include this spelling as early as 1920. This is the earliest published observation available here, rather than a date for the name’s origin.
From dated birth records
Ware through the years
- Babies since 1880
- 7
- 7 boys · 0 girls
- Most popular year
- 1920
- 7 babies
- 2025
- 0
- Outside the ranked list
- 2021–25 vs 2016–20
- —
- Too few births to compare
By the numbers
The most recent published U.S. birth count for boys is 7 in 1920. Later missing counts do not mean the name went unused. Published U.S. population figures for this spelling include 47,874 as a surname in 2020.
From Social Security birth records and U.S. Census name counts for this exact spelling. Other spellings are counted separately.
Ware’s family of names
In English usage, Ware as a surname has a related form in WARES. In English usage, Ware as a surname has a related form in WARR.
The ring: nicknames and forms.
Nicknames & forms 2
Diminutives, pet forms, short forms and variants used alongside the name.
Similar names
If you love Ware, these share its style, era, origin or sound, from outside its own family.
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>99% boys
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Lamb
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Turney
Turney is a surname from Norman.
>99% boys
Roberts
Roberts is a given name from Anglo-Norman. It is used in English and Latvian.
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