Maw Family History

English (Yorkshire and Lincolnshire): from Middle English Maw(e), a pet form of the Anglo-Norman French and Middle English personal name Maheu (see Matthew). Alternative derivation of Middle English Mawe from an Old English personal name Māwa is theoretically possible in northern England. Compare Mew.

English (Yorkshire and Lincolnshire): occasionally a variant of Mowe. English (Yorkshire and Lincolnshire): topographic name meaning either ‘(dweller by) the meadow’ from an otherwise unrecorded Middle English word mawe mowe ‘meadow’ (attested in the second element of the Old English placename Dunmow Essex) or ‘(dweller by) the wet hollow’ from Middle English mawe ‘stomach’ (Old English maga) used topographically to denote a depression which collects water. See also Mowe.

Burmese: from a personal name usually forming part of a compound name from maw ‘distinguished’. — Note: Since Burmese do not have hereditary surnames this name was registered as such only after immigration of its bearers to the US.