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From The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland (Oxford University Press, 2016)
Shaw is 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 toponymic, for someone from any of the many places so named. Shaw and Shawe are most frequent in Lancashire and WR Yorkshire where Shaw in Oldham (Lancashire) may be a principal source of the surname.
Shaw is 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 toponymic, for someone from any of the many places so named. Shaw and Shawe are most frequent in Lancashire and WR Yorkshire where Shaw in Oldham (Lancashire) may be a principal source of the surname.
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