Wade (surname)

This article is about the surname Wade. For other uses, see Wade.

Wade is a surname of Anglo-Saxon English origin. It is thought to derive from the Middle English given name "Wade", which itself derived from the Old English verb "wadan" (wada) meaning "to go", or as a habitational name from the Old English word "(ge)waed" meaning "ford".^[1][2][3]

A ford in a 19th-century oil painting

Variants of this surname include Waide and Wadey, the latter a diminutive variant.^[2] There is also a documented relationship between Wade and Waythe, the latter derived by a variant form of "wade" meaning a ford, that being "wath"; there is likewise a relationship between Wade/Waythe and Ford/Forth.^[4]

Notable people and fictional characters with the surname

A to E

• Abdoulaye Wade (born 1926), President of Senegal

• Adam Wade (drummer) (born 1968), American drummer

• Adam Wade (singer) (1935–2022), American singer, drummer and television actor

• Adam Wade (storyteller) American storyteller and actor
• April Wade, American actress and producer
• Arthur C. Wade (1852–1914), American lawyer and politician
• Arthur Edward Wade (1895–1989), British botanist, lichenologist and museum curator
• Barrington Wade (born 1998), American football player
• Ben Wade (1922–2002), American baseball player

• Ben Wade, character in the film 3:10 to Yuma

• Ben Wade, character in the film Key Largo

• Ben Wade (politician) (1883–1958), Australian politician
• Bernie L. Wade (born 1963), American minister, President of the International Circle of Faith

• Bill Wade (footballer) (1901–1958), English footballer

• Bill Wade (1930–2016), American football quarterback

• Betsy Wade (1929–2020), American journalist
• Brandon Wade (born 1970), American businessman
• Bryan Wade (born 1963), English footballer

• Chris Wade (fighter) (born 1987), American mixed martial artist

• Chris Wade (real estate broker) (born 1945), American real estate broker involved in the Whitewater controversy

• Chris Wade (writer), 20th–21st century English writer, musician and filmmaker

• Chris Wade, producer of Chapo Trap House
• Christian Wade (born 1991), English rugby player & American football player
• Claude Martin Wade (1794–1861), British political officer in India and Afghanistan
• Cory Wade (born 1983), American Major League Baseball player

• David Wade (Louisiana general) (1911–1990), U.S. Army general, namesake of David Wade Correctional Center

• David Wade (politician) (born 1950), former South Australian politician
• Dallas Toler-Wade (born 1974), American musician
• Dayton Wade (born 2000), American football player
• Dean Wade (born 1996), American basketball player
• Don Wade (1928–2007), American football coach and college athletics administrator
• Donald Wade, Baron Wade (1904–1988), British Liberal Party politician
• Doug Wade (born 1941), Australian rules footballer
• Dwyane Wade (born 1982), American basketball player

• Ed Wade (born 1956), baseball executive
• Eddie Wade (1948–2025), Irish politician
• Edward Wade (1802–1866), American politician

F to J

• Gale Wade (1929–2022), American baseball player
• George Wade (1673–1748), British military commander

• George Wade (musician) (c.1895-1975), Canadian folk musician and band leader

• George Wade (pottery manufacturer) (1891–1986), chairman of Wade Ceramics Ltd in Britain
• Henry Wade (1914–2001), Texas lawyer and lead defendant in Roe v. Wade
• Henry Wade, pen name of British mystery writer Sir Henry Aubrey-Fletcher, 6th Baronet (1887–1969)
• Henry Wade (surgeon) (1876–1955), Scottish surgeon
• Herbert Wade (doctor) (1886–1968), American doctor and researcher on leprosy
• Herby Wade (1905–1980), South African cricketer

• Jack Wade (footballer) (1907–1941), Australian rules footballer

• Jack Wade (James Bond), a character in two James Bond films

• Jack Wade, Alaska, an unincorporated community
• James Wade (born 1983), English darts player

• James Wade (basketball) (born 1975), American-French basketball coach
• Jason Wade (born 1980), singer/songwriter
• Jennie Wade (1843–1863), the only civilian casualty in the Battle of Gettysburg
• Jeremy Wade (born 1956), British TV presenter (River Monsters) and fishing author
• Jessey Wade (c. 1861 – 1952), English suffragette and animal welfare campaigner
• Jim Wade (1925–2019), American football player

• Joe Wade (filmmaker), British filmmaker, TV writer and producer

• Joe Wade (footballer) (1921–2005), British footballer and manager

• Joe Wade (trade unionist) (1919–2004), British trade union leader
• John Wade (disambiguation), several people
• Joivan Wade (born 1993), British actor

• Julian Wade (born 1990), Dominican footballer
• Julie Marie Wade (born 1979), American writer and professor or writing

K to O

• LaMonte Wade Jr. (born 1994), American baseball player
• Lillian Wade (1870–1923), British sculptor
• Lloyd Wade, English gospel and soul singer, vocal coach
• Logan Wade (born 1991), Australian baseball player
• Mark Wade (born 1965), American retired basketball player

• Mark Wade, American space enthusiast and author who maintained Encyclopedia Astronautica

• Mark Wade (ventriloquist), American ventriloquist
• Martin Joseph Wade (1861–1931), U.S. Democratic Representative from Iowa
• Mary Wade (1775–1859), British convict transported to Australia aboard the Lady Juliana in 1790
• Mary Hazelton Blanchard Wade (1860–1936), American writer
• Mary Wade (paleontologist) (1928–2005), Australian paleontologist
• Matthew Wade (born 1987), Australian cricketer

• Morgan Wade (singer) (born 1995), American singer
• Ned Wade (hurler) (1911–1992), Irish hurler
• Nicholas Wade (born 1942 in England), US science writer and author
• Nicholas J. Wade, British vision researcher and historian of vision
• Oulton Wade, Baron Wade of Chorlton (1932–2018), British politician and businessman

P to T

• Paul Wade (born 1962), Australian footballer
• Peter Wade, British anthropologist
• Rachel Wade (born 1990), American murderer
• Rebekah Wade, English journalist
• Reg Wade, English footballer
• Robert Wade (disambiguation), multiple people
• Rosalind Wade (1909–1989), British novelist
• Scott Wade (born 1960), Australian rules footballer
• Ted Wade (disambiguation), multiple people
• Shaun Wade (disambiguation), multiple people
• Sidney Wade (born 1951), American poet
• Stephen Wade (born 1960), Australian politician
• Silas A. Wade (1797–1869), American politician
• Terence Wade (1930–2005), English academic and linguist
• Thomas Wade (disambiguation), multiple people
• Tobías Wade (born 1999), Argentine rugby union player
• Tomás Wade (died 1982), Argentine field hockey player
• Tyler Wade (born 1994), American baseball player

U to Z

• Virginia Wade (born 1945), tennis player from the United Kingdom
• Wallace Wade (1892–1986), American college sports coach
• Wayne Wade (born 1959), Jamaican reggae musician

• William Wade (Maldon MP), in 1410, MP for Maldon

• William Wade (English politician) (1546–1623), English statesman and diplomat

• Sir William Wade (lord mayor) (1849–1935), British politician, Lord Mayor of Bradford

• William Wade, Baron Wade of Chorlton (1932–2018), British politician, businessman and agriculturalist

• William Wade (Canon of Windsor) (1672–1733), Irish Anglican priest

• William Wade (Dean of Glasgow and Galloway) (died 1845), Scottish Episcopalian priest

• Sir William Wade (legal scholar) (1918–2004), British academic lawyer

• William Wade (journalist) (1918–2006), American war correspondent during World War II
• Willoughby Francis Wade (1827–1906), British physician