# Wade (surname)

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".
Variants of this surname include Waide and Wadey, the latter a diminutive variant. 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.

## 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