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Shaw Family History

Shaw Surname Meaning

English (Yorkshire and Lancashire): from Middle English s(c)hawe s(c)haghe ‘small wood grove thicket’ (Old English sceaga). The surname may be topographic for someone who lived in or by a small wood or habitational for someone from any of the many places so named.

Shaw and Shawe are most frequent in Lancashire and Yorkshire where Shaw in Oldham (Lancashire) may be a principal source of the surname. The English and Lowland Scottish surname was also established in Ireland in the 17th century.

Scottish: shortened form of various surnames from the Gaelic personal name Sitheach derived from sithech ‘wolf’. Irish (Down and Antrim): adopted for Ó Síthigh ‘descendant of Sítheach ’ a personal name based on sítheach ‘peaceful’.

Compare Sheehy. Americanized form of some similar (like-sounding) Jewish surname. Chinese: variant Romanization of the surname 邵 see Shao.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022


Similar surnames: 

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Where is the Shaw family from?

You can see how Shaw families moved over time by selecting different census years. The Shaw family name was found in the USA, the UK, Canada, and Scotland between 1840 and 1920. The most Shaw families were found in United Kingdom in 1891. In 1840 there were 599 Shaw families living in New York. This was about 20% of all the recorded Shaw's in USA. New York had the highest population of Shaw families in 1840.
Use census records and voter lists to see where families with the Shaw surname lived. Within census records, you can often find information like name of household members, ages, birthplaces, residences, and occupations.
  • 1840
  • 1880
  • 1920
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What did your Shaw ancestors do for a living?

In 1940, Laborer and Housewife were the top reported jobs for men and women in the USA named Shaw. 14% of Shaw men worked as a Laborer and 7% of Shaw women worked as a Housewife. Some less common occupations for Americans named Shaw were Truck Driver and Teacher.

View Census Data for Shaw | Data not to scale

*We display top occupations by gender to maintain their historical accuracy during times when men and women often performed different jobs.

Top Male Occupations In 1940

  • Laborer
    14%
  • Farmer
    14%
  • Salesman
    5%
  • Truck Driver
    3%

Top Female Occupations In 1940

  • Housewife
    7%
  • Maid
    6%
  • Housekeeper
    6%
  • Teacher
    6%

What Shaw family records will you find?

Census Records

There are 1 million census records available for the last name Shaw. Like a window into their day-to-day life, Shaw census records can tell you where and how your ancestors worked, their level of education, veteran status, and more.

Search US census records for Shaw

Passenger Lists

There are 195,000 immigration records available for the last name Shaw. Passenger lists are your ticket to knowing when your ancestors arrived in the USA, and how they made the journey - from the ship name to ports of arrival and departure.

View all Shaw immigration records

Draft Cards

There are 216,000 military records available for the last name Shaw. For the veterans among your Shaw ancestors, military collections provide insights into where and when they served, and even physical descriptions.

View all Shaw military records

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