Shea
An Irish surname, usually from Ó Séaghdha, with the sense of a “hawk-like” or “admirable” descendant name.
The #1,048 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 9,264 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Shea is the Anglicized form of Irish Ó Séaghdha, meaning “descendant of Séaghdha.” The personal name Séaghdha is traditionally explained as meaning “hawk-like,” “stately,” or “admirable,” though older sources vary in how they gloss it. In English usage, the surname also appears in spellings such as O'Shea, O'Shee, Shea, and Shee.
History
The name is strongly associated with Ireland and is especially common in Munster in Irish historical scholarship. English-language records often dropped the prefix O' and simplified the spelling to Shea or Shee. In North America and other English-speaking countries, Shea became the most familiar modern form.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century Irish surname scholars regularly grouped Shea with O'Shea and O'Shee as the same underlying Gaelic name.
From the historical record
“scheel, wry, oblique, crooked] SHEA, V. O'Shea. SHEAD (Eng.) Dweller at i a Hut, ArBour (Shed) [O.E. sceadu] 2 a Hill-Ridge ; specif., the point from which the hill slopes in opposite direc- tions [Dial. E. she(a)d; i. O.E. scdadan, to part, separate, shed] SHEAF \ (Eng.) i the A.-Sax. pers. name SHEAFF JSc^a/ya…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)