Meades

The name Meades is a plural variation of the name Meade, Mead, Mede, etc., the spelling being rather arbitrary and phonetic in the middle ages (even among the very few scribes, clerics and high-born persons who were literate) and without due consideration of standarized form, hence the various spellings of the name today. One of the earliest written forms is to be found in the parish role of the village of Wraxall in Somerset, wherein the name is spelled 'atte Mede', being Old French for "of the meadow". The folk with this name were farmers, albeit many became well-to-do merchants later. The common supposition that the name may be appied to the maker of the honey wine called 'Mead' is myth and there is no evidence to substantiate such a claim.