Shaw
A common English surname meaning someone who lived by a wood, copse, or small grove.
The #164 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 1,925 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Shaw comes from Old English sceaga, later Middle English shaw(e), meaning a small wood, thicket, or grove. As a surname, it originally identified someone who lived near or by such a wooded place. In some cases it may also reflect related Scandinavian influence, since Old Norse skogr means wood, but the core English place-name sense is clear.
History
This is one of the classic English topographic surnames, found early in medieval records in forms such as de la Schawe. It became especially common in areas with many minor place-names and field names based on woodland. The surname also gave rise to many compound local surnames such as Bagshaw and Oldershaw.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same word appears in place-names and local surnames across England, so many modern Shaw families ultimately took their name from an area once described simply as “the shaw.”
From the historical record
“SHAVE = Shafe, q.v. SHAW 1 (Eng.) Dweller at a Wood or Grove SHAWEJ [M.E. shatvie, schaw{e, schagh, O.E. sc{e)ag(f] A Scaga occurs in a charter, a.d. 778^ of Ecgberht, king of Kent, to the then Bishop ot Rochester, of land at ' Br6m- geheg.' Richard de la Schawe. —”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)