Heraldry and the Kadow Surname

People named Kadow carry a Polish surname with a long history.

What does the surname Kadow mean?

Elsdon Smith's dictionary of American family names explains it as “one who made and sold barrels, a cooper”. The Census Bureau's 2010 surname file lists Kadow with 469 bearers, at rank 45,569. That is enough to place it in the top 50,000 American surnames.

How common is the Kadow last name?

It began as an occupational name, from the work an early bearer did.

Does every Kadow family have a crest?

There is no single Kadow family crest for all bearers; the honest first step is to find out which Kadow line, if any, bore arms.

Get the complete Kadow report, with a museum-style coat of arms.