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Updated June 9, 2019

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.

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