Shad

Boy name variations

Family name origins & meanings

• Muslim : from a personal name based on Arabic shād ‘happy’.
• English : metonymic occupational name for a fisherman or fish seller, from Old English sceadd ‘shad’, a kind of fish. Reaney and Wilson note that during the Old English period there was a ‘shad season’, so it must have been of some economic importance.
• Americanized spelling of German Schade.