Wade (surname)

Last updated February 23, 2025

A ford in a 19th-century oil painting Ford-Across-the-Way.jpg — A ford in a 19th-century oil painting

Wade is a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin. It is thought to derive from the Middle English given name "Wade", which itself derived from the Old English verb "wadan" (wada) meaning "to go", or as a habitational name from the Old English word "(ge)waed" meaning "ford".^[1]^[2]^[3]

Variants of this surname include Waide and Wadey, the latter a diminutive variant.^[2] There is also a documented relationship between Wade and Waythe, the latter derived by a variant form of "wade" meaning a ford, that being "wath"; there is likewise a relationship between Wade/Waythe and Ford/Forth.^[4]

Notable people and fictional characters with the surname

A to E

Abdoulaye Wade (born 1926), President of Senegal

Adam Wade (drummer) (born 1968), American drummer

Adam Wade (singer) (1935–2022), American singer, drummer and television actor

Adam Wade (storyteller) American storyteller and actor
April Wade, American actress and producer
Arthur C. Wade (1852–1914), American lawyer and politician
Arthur Edward Wade (1895–1989), British botanist, lichenologist and museum curator
Barrington Wade (born 1998), American football player
Ben Wade (1922–2002), American baseball player

Ben Wade, character in the film 3:10 to Yuma

Ben Wade, character in the film Key Largo

Ben Wade (politician) (1883–1958), Australian politician
Bernie L. Wade (born 1963), American minister, President of the International Circle of Faith

Bill Wade (footballer) (1901–1958), English footballer

Bill Wade (1930–2016), American football quarterback

Betsy Wade (1929–2020), American journalist
Brandon Wade (born 1970), American businessman
Bryan Wade (born 1963), English footballer

Chris Wade (fighter) (born 1987), American mixed martial artist

Chris Wade (real estate broker) (born 1945), American real estate broker involved in the Whitewater controversy

Chris Wade (writer), 20th–21st century English writer, musician and filmmaker

Chris Wade, producer of Chapo Trap House
Christian Wade (born 1991), English rugby player & American football player
Claude Martin Wade (1794–1861), British political officer in India and Afghanistan
Cory Wade (born 1983), American Major League Baseball player

David Wade (Louisiana general) (1911–1990), U.S. Army general, namesake of David Wade Correctional Center

David Wade (politician) (born 1950), former South Australian politician
Dallas Toler-Wade (born 1974), American musician
Dayton Wade (born 2000), American football player
Dean Wade (born 1996), American basketball player
Don Wade (1928–2007), American football coach and college athletics administrator
Donald Wade, Baron Wade (1904–1988), British Liberal Party politician
Doug Wade (born 1941), Australian rules footballer
Dwyane Wade (born 1982), American basketball player

Ed Wade (born 1956), baseball executive
Eddie Wade (1948–2025), Irish politician
Edward Wade (1802–1866), American politician

F to J

Gale Wade (1929–2022), American baseball player
George Wade (1673–1748), British military commander

George Wade (musician) (c.1895-1975), Canadian folk musician and band leader

George Wade (pottery manufacturer) (1891–1986), chairman of Wade Ceramics Ltd in Britain
Henry Wade (1914–2001), Texas lawyer and lead defendant in Roe v. Wade
Henry Wade, pen name of British mystery writer Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, 6th Baronet (1887–1969)
Henry Wade (surgeon) (1876–1955), Scottish surgeon
Herbert Wade (doctor) (1886–1968), American doctor and researcher on leprosy
Herby Wade (1905–1980), South African cricketer

Jack Wade (footballer) (1907–1941), Australian rules footballer

Jack Wade (James Bond), a character in two James Bond films

Jack Wade, Alaska, an unincorporated community
James Wade (born 1983), English darts player

James Wade (basketball) (born 1975), American-French basketball coach
Jason Wade (born 1980), singer/songwriter
Jennie Wade (1843–1863), the only civilian casualty in the Battle of Gettysburg
Jeremy Wade (born 1956), British TV presenter (River Monsters) and fishing author
Jessey Wade (c. 1861 – 1952), English suffragette and animal welfare campaigner
Jim Wade (1925–2019), American football player

Joe Wade (filmmaker), British filmmaker, TV writer and producer

Joe Wade (footballer) (1921–2005), British footballer and manager

Joe Wade (trade unionist) (1919–2004), British trade union leader
John Wade (disambiguation), several people
Joivan Wade (born 1993), British actor

Julian Wade (born 1990), Dominican footballer
Julie Marie Wade (born 1979), American writer and professor or writing

K to O

LaMonte Wade Jr. (born 1994), American baseball player
Lillian Wade (1870–1923), British sculptor
Lloyd Wade, English gospel and soul singer, vocal coach
Logan Wade (born 1991), Australian baseball player
Mark Wade (born 1965), American retired basketball player

Mark Wade, American space enthusiast and author who maintained Encyclopedia Astronautica

Mark Wade (ventriloquist), American ventriloquist
Martin Joseph Wade (1861–1931), U.S. Democratic Representative from Iowa
Mary Wade (1775–1859), British convict transported to Australia aboard the Lady Juliana in 1790
Mary Hazelton Blanchard Wade (1860–1936), American writer
Mary Wade (paleontologist) (1928–2005), Australian paleontologist
Matthew Wade (born 1987), Australian cricketer

Morgan Wade (singer) (born 1995), American singer
Ned Wade (hurler) (1911–1992), Irish hurler
Nicholas Wade (born 1942 in England), US science writer and author
Nicholas J. Wade, British vision researcher and historian of vision
Oulton Wade, Baron Wade of Chorlton (1932–2018), British politician and businessman

P to T

Paul Wade (born 1962), Australian footballer
Peter Wade, British anthropologist
Rachel Wade (born 1990), American murderer
Rebekah Wade, English journalist
Reg Wade, English footballer
Robert Wade (disambiguation), multiple people
Rosalind Wade (1909–1989), British novelist
Scott Wade (born 1960), Australian rules footballer
Ted Wade (disambiguation), multiple people
Shaun Wade (disambiguation), multiple people
Sidney Wade (born 1951), American poet
Stephen Wade (born 1960), Australian politician
Silas A. Wade (1797–1869), American politician
Terence Wade (1930–2005), English academic and linguist
Thomas Wade (disambiguation), multiple people
Tobías Wade (born 1999), Argentine rugby union player
Tomás Wade (died 1982), Argentine field hockey player
Tyler Wade (born 1994), American baseball player

U to Z

Virginia Wade (born 1945), tennis player from the United Kingdom
Wallace Wade (1892–1986), American college sports coach
Wayne Wade (born 1959), Jamaican reggae musician

William Wade (Maldon MP), in 1410, MP for Maldon

William Wade (English politician) (1546–1623), English statesman and diplomat

Sir William Wade (lord mayor) (1849–1935), British politician, Lord Mayor of Bradford

William Wade, Baron Wade of Chorlton (1932–2018), British politician, businessman and agriculturalist

William Wade (Canon of Windsor) (1672–1733), Irish Anglican priest

William Wade (Dean of Glasgow and Galloway) (died 1845), Scottish Episcopalian priest

Sir William Wade (legal scholar) (1918–2004), British academic lawyer

William Wade (journalist) (1918–2006), American war correspondent during World War II
Willoughby Francis Wade (1827–1906), British physician

Notes

↑ Hanks, Patrick & Hodges, Flavia. A Dictionary of Surnames (Oxford University Press, 1988); s.v. Wade OCLC 18191308
1 2 Harrison, Henry (2013). Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary. Assisted by Gyda Pulling (Reprint ed.). Genealogical Publishing Company. pp. 256–7. ISBN 9780806301716.
↑ Lower, Mark Antony (1860). Patronymica Britannica: A Dictionary of the Family names of the United Kingdom. Great Britain: J. R. Smith. p. 368. OCLC 4118298 – via Internet Archive.
↑ Bardsley, Charles Wareing (1901). A dictionary of English and Welsh surnames. Revised posthumously for the press by his Widow. Henry Frowde. p. 786. OCLC 867884157 – via Internet Archive.