Sade is a short form of the Yoruba name Folashade (or sometimes Sandé) — meaning "honour confers a crown" or "crown is honour." The full Yoruba name carries the weight of a noble or royal lineage.
The British-Nigerian singer Sade Adu (born 1959), lead vocalist of the band Sade, gave the name international currency in the 1980s with songs like "Smooth Operator." The name is now used across the African diaspora and is rising in Western records.
Sade reduces to nine — the number of crowned honour.