Family name origins & meanings
- Irish : reduced form of McDade, ‘son of David’.
- German : from the Frisian personal name Dode, which Bahlow explains as a form derived from baby talk.
- English (Norfolk) : from Old English dǣd ‘deed’, ‘exploit’, probably applied as a nickname commemorating some exploit perpetrated by the bearer or for someone noted for his derring-do. Compare Deeds.