Forward Family History

English: perhaps from Middle English for(e)ward forthward ‘agreement contract pledge’. It might have been given to someone who negotiated agreements or who acted as a pledge for another person.

Perhaps sometimes a metathesized form of Middle English froward fraward ‘contrary unruly willful perverse’. Alternatively, this may be a nickname from Middle English for(e)ward ‘forward advanced’.

It is not until the 16th century that the word is recorded meaning ‘ready eager precocious presumptuous’ but perhaps it already had some of these senses in Middle English.