The Irish surname Powers, also found in England, is an habitational name for someone from Pois, a place in Picardy (said to have been named with Old French pois ‘fish’ because of its well-stocked river), from Old French Pohier ‘native of Pois’. The surname from this source was introduced into England after the Norman Conquest of 1066. It entered Ireland in 1170 when a bearer of the name le Poer took part in Strongbow's invasion of Wexford. The name, initially Gaelicized "de Paor", and later Anglicized "Power", became one of the most completely Hibernicized of the surnames introduced to Ireland at the time of the Anglo-Norman invasion. The name is found throughout Ireland with the highest number of bearers in counties Waterford and Kilkenny.