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Last name origins & meanings:

  1. English: probably from a Middle English survival of the Old English personal name Bad(d)a, which is of uncertain origin, perhaps a short form of the various compound names with the first element beadu ‘battle’.
  2. North German: from a short form of a Germanic personal name composed with badu ‘strife’, ‘battle’.
  3. North German: occupational name from Middle Low German bade ‘messenger’.