Wader Family History

From Old French wesdier, waisdier, quesdier ‘woad merchant’ or ‘dyer using woad’, a word that fell together with Old English *wādere. The latter became Middle English wōdere which should give a surname Woader or Woder, rather than Wader.

However, this would have been indistinguishable from Middle English wodere ‘woodman’ as in Andr' le Wodere, 1275 in Fransson (Sussex), which may explain the retention of the older spelling.

Compare Wadman.