Dada Family History

Indian (Maharashtra): name meaning ‘elder brother’ in various Indian languages and ‘(paternal) grandfather’ in Hindi and Urdu; also used as an honorific term of address. Bearers of this family are largely Muslims. Muslim: from a personal name based on Persian dāda ‘given’ (i.e. ‘gift of God’) or a nickname from Persian dada ‘wetnurse’.

West African (Nigeria): from the Yoruba personal name Dàda, a circumstance name traditionally given to a child retaining the hair knotted round the crown of the head before the ceremonial first cutting. Albanian: nickname from dadë (definite form dada) ‘wetnurse’, a word of Persian origin (see 2 above) or from a homonymous term used in baby talk as a pet name for the baby's female caretaker.

Cornish: variant of Daddow, perhaps from a Cornish pet form of the Middle English personal name Dodd(e), unrounded to Dadd(e) + the Cornish suffix -ow (see Dodd and for the Cornish suffix compare Kitto). Alternatively, perhaps from a Cornish pet form of Middle English Dadde as a rhyming pet form of Adam.