Shaw


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The Shaw surname in England may either topographical or locational origins.  As a topographical name, Shaw was used for someone who lived by a copse, wood or thicket, derived from the Old English sceaga or "dweller by the wood."  Alternatively, the surname might have been derived from a number of place names with the same root. 

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England.  The earliest spelling was Shaghe, as in William Shaghe in Somerset in 1333.   The name is mainly found in the north of England.  Yorkshire and Lancashire accounted for over half of the Shaws in the 1891 census.

Richard de Shaw was recorded in Widnes, Lancashire in 1284.  The Shaws of Haslington Hall in Cheshire were Royalist supporters during the Civil War.  There was also a long-standing Shaw family in Kirkham, Lancashire.

A Shaw family was to be found at Saddleworth on the Lancashire/Yorkshire border in the 14th century and the Shaw name has continued there.  Abraham Shaw from Halifax in Yorkshire emigrated to New England in 1636.  A Shaw family, beginning with John Shaw in the 1770's, were mill owners at Holywell Green near Halifax until the 1930's.  And it was Percy Shaw, born in Halifax in 1890, who invented the ubiquitous catseyes on British roads.

Scotland and Ireland.  The name can also be an English form of several surnames derived from the Gaelic personal name Sitheach meaning "wolf."  There is a Scottish clan Shaw of Tordarroch which at one time held the stronghold of Rothiemurchus in the Cairngorms.  Irish Shaws may be of English or Scottish origin, such as George Bernard Shaw who was descended from a Scottish soldier who had been granted land in Ireland in 1690.

America.  Shaw may be an Americanized form of like-sounding Jewish surnames.  The name Shaw can also have Chinese roots, from the Chinese Shao.  Shao Xingyin, for instance, was the patriarch of Shaw movie family.    

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John Shaw was a prominent English architect in the early 19th century who pioneered semi-detached housing in London.
George Bernard Shaw, born in Dublin, was a great English playwright and socialist advocate of the early 20th century.
Napier Shaw was the British meteorologist who developed the air pressure unit millibar.
Artie Shaw, born Arthur Arshawsky, was one of the great jazz clarinetists.
Irwin Shaw, born Irwin Shamforoff, was an American playwright and author.
Runme Shaw and his brother Run Run Shaw, born in China, were founders of the Shaw Organiization in Singapore and pioneers of the movie industry in SE Asia.

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  • 90,000 in the UK (most numerous in Yorkshire)
  • 60,000 in America (most numerous in Texas)
  • 49,000 elsewhere (most numerous in Canada)

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For other surnames check the companion selectsurname.com site where there are to be found the history and genealogy for more than 500 surnames.

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