Family name origins & meanings
- English : metonymic occupational name for a dyer or seller of dye, from Middle English mad(d)er ‘madder’ (Old English mædere), a pink to red dye obtained from the roots of the madder plant.
- German and Dutch (Mader, Mäder) : occupational name for a reaper or mower, Middle High German māder, mæder, Middle Dutch mader.
- French (southwestern and southeastern) : metonymic occupational name for a carpenter.