Other branches of the clan: Bradshaigh, Bradshay, Bradshawe, Braidshaw, Bradeshaw, Bradsher.

The name Bradshaw was prevalent from ancient times in England. It is a name of Norse origin, from the Scandinavian Vikings, who crossed the North Sea and raided the Northern Coasts of Britain from the 8th Century. Some of them established fortified settlements there, and many place-names and personal names in North-East England are of Viking origin. The name Bradshaw is probably derived from the Old Norse words broddr (spike), skagi (tip), skaga (to jut out) and skogr (forest), possibly relating to the shape of a particular wood or copse close to the Viking settlement where the Bradshaws first dwelt. The name is also related to the Old English (Anglo-Saxon) words brord (point, nail) and sceaga (thicket).

Tipperary Town is part of the ancestral home of the Bradshaws in Ireland and forms a stage of the Beara-Breifne Greenway which is based on the historic march of O'Sullivan Beara in 1603.