This unusual name has a number of possible sources, each with its own distinctive history and derivation. Firstly, it may be of Anglo-Saxon origin, representing a rare survival of the native Olde English personal name or byname "Cada", from an Old Germanic root word meaning "lump, swelling", possibly applied to a stout, plump person; the given name is also found as the first element of the placename Cadbury, and in Middle English became Cade. Secondly, the surname may be of Old French and early medieval English origin, as a metonymic occupational name for a cooper, derived from the Old French and Middle English "cade", cask, barrel. Finally, the surname may derive from the Middle English homonym "cade", domestic animal, pet, specifically often used of a young animal left by its mother and brought up by hand as a domestic pet; in this instance the term was used as a nickname for a gentle, inoffensive person. The name is also found early in Scotland, where John Cady, tenant under the Earl of Douglas in 1376, is the first of the name recorded. In England, it is chiefly found in East Anglia; examples from Church Registers include: the christening of Ellys, son of John Cady, in Blofield, Norfolk, on July 6th 1550, and the marriage of John Cady and Cecily Daines on October 8th 1554, at Cratfield in Suffolk. The family Coat of Arms is blazoned thus: Argent on three piles in point engrailed sable as many crosses pattee fitchee or (gold). The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Cade, which was dated 1140, in "Archaeological Records of Kent", during the reign of King Stephen, known as "Count of Blois", 1135 - 1154. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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