Shaw is most commonly a surname and rarely a given name. The name is of English and Scottish origin. In some cases the surname is an Americanization of a similar-sounding Ashkenazic Jewish surname. As a surname, Shaw is the 73rd most common name in Great Britain, with 86,049 bearers. It is most common in South Yorkshire, where it is the 4th most common surname with 11,126 bearers. Other concentrations include Merseyside (38th, 4,780), Cumbria (187th, 1,724), Greater Manchester (497th, 1,666), Cheshire (566th, 1,608) and Lancashire (888th, 1,714).
In England and Scotland the name is a topographic name for someone who lived by a copse or thicket. This name is derived from the Middle English schage, shage, schawe, and shawe, from the Old English sceaga meaning "dweller by the wood". The name can also be a habitational name derived from places named after these words. The English surname was established in Ireland in the 17th century. In Scotland and Ireland the surname can also be an English form of several surnames derived from the Gaelic personal name sitheach meaning "wolf".
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