Family name origins & meanings
- Welsh : from a personal name composed of the elements cad ‘battle’ + gwaladr ‘leader’.
- John Cadwallader (died 1734) came from Pembroke, Wales, to PA in the late 17th century. The name Cadwal(l)ader appears in 18th-century Philadelphia, PA, including Thomas Cadwalader (1707–1799), a physician, and his sons, John (1742–1786) and Lambert (1743–1823), both revolutionary war soldiers.