Wade
Meaning of Wade
Wade—pronounced simply “wayd,” as clear and brisk as the ripple it evokes—stems from the Old English verb wadan, “to go or ford a river,” and thus it carries the quiet heroism of one who leaves the shore and steps, literally, into possibility; in the same current drift legends of the Germanic giant Vadi (Latinized as Vadius), father of the master-smith Wayland, reminding the modern bearer that artisanship and audacity have long shared a family tree. Historically a topographic surname before it migrated, ad urbem, into given-name status, Wade has maintained what statisticians would call a via media: for well over a century in the United States he has hovered—in a politely persistent way—around the middle of the popularity charts, currently anchoring himself in the low three-hundreds, a position that suggests resilience without the burden of ubiquity. One syllable, four letters, zero pretension: an onomastic ford where classical gravitas (quidquid id est, navigate it) meets frontier plain-speaking, allowing parents to bestow on a son a name that is at once compact, perennially masculine, and, with dry humor intended, already fully waterproof.
Pronunciation
American English
- Pronunced as wayd (/weɪd/)
U.S. Popularity Chart
States Popularity Chart
Notable People Named Wade
| Stuart Alexander Bennett, better known as Wade Barrett, is an English American former wrestler who now commentates on WWE Raw. |
| Wade Boggs, nicknamed Chicken Man, is a former MLB third baseman who played 18 seasons mostly with the Boston Red Sox, won the 1996 World Series with the New York Yankees, and finished with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays. |
| Wade LeBlanc is an American former pitcher who played for multiple Major League Baseball teams and in Japan with the Saitama Seibu Lions. |
| Wade Alan Davis II is an American activist, speaker, writer, educator, and former American football player. |
| Wade Davis is an American former MLB pitcher, a three-time All-Star who played for the Rays, Royals, Cubs, and Rockies, starring for the 2015 World Series champion Royals and winning the Babe Ruth Award. |
| Wade Baldwin IV - Wade Manson Baldwin IV is an American professional basketball player for Fenerbahce Beko in the Turkish Basketball Super League and the EuroLeague. |
| Wade Kristopher Small is an English footballer, a versatile winger and forward, last with Kingstonian. |
| Wade Allison is a British physicist and Oxford University emeritus professor and Keble College fellow known for books on nuclear science like Nuclear is for Life and Radiation and Reason. |
| Wade Henderson - Wade J. Henderson is an African American civil rights leader who served as president of the Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights and as counsel to the Leadership Conference Education Fund. |
| Wade Grant Cunningham is a New Zealand racing driver from Auckland who competed in the IndyCar Series in 2011 and 2012. |
| Paul Wade Bowen is an American Texas country and Red Dirt singer from Waco, Texas. |
| Wade Schalles is an American wrestler and black belt martial artist, a Clarion University standout who created moves like the Spladle, won national judo and sambo titles, and was inducted into the National Wrestling Hall of Fame in 1991. |
| Wade Anthony Seccombe is an Australian cricket coach and former Queensland wicketkeeper who spent much of his career behind Ian Healy yet was widely praised for his skill, including by Ricky Ponting. |
| Wade Horn - Wade F. Horn is an American psychologist who served as Assistant Secretary for Children and Families from 2001 to 2007 under President George W. Bush and earlier as Commissioner of Children, Youth, and Families under President George H. W. Bush. |
| Wade Mark is a Trinidad and Tobago politician serving as President of the Senate since 2025, previously Speaker of the House from 2010 to 2015, and holds a 1979 bachelors degree in politics and economics from the University of the West Indies St Augustine. |
