What does your surname mean?
As every genealogist knows, we're all the product of our family's history. But genetics aren't the only thing that we pass down the generations. Used to identify our familial bonds, surnames link us to even our most distant ancestors. If your curious about your family history, doing a surname search is a great place to start.
The origin of your last name can reveal a lot about your earliest ancestors' birthplaces, occupations and more.
Surname of the week
Shaw
If you meet a Shaw, tell them...
The origin of the Shaw surname is English and Scottish. It has a number of points of origin, most commonly it is topographical, coming from the Old English 'sceaga' (dweller by the wood) and relates to somebody who lived on or near a thicket or copse and their descendants. The surname Shaw sometimes can stem from an anglicisation of the Gaelic name 'Sitheach', but most often in Ireland it has arisen from the names that arrived during the plantation of the country in the 1600s.
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