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Greetings,
Here's the information we found on the name "Waddell."
It appears that there are three seperate names which have become "Waddell."
One source is a place called "Wedale", in the parish of Stow in Midlothian. (1) A second is the Old English given name "W{ae}del." ({ae} represents a single letter which was written with the letters a and e joined together). The third is "Wadden Hall" in Waltham, Kent. (2)
There is no evidence that this name derived from any word for "Irish." "gwyddell" is a Welsh word for "Irish" which evolved into the name "Wethel" or "Oythel," not "Waddel." (3) The Gaelic word "Gaedheal" could theoretically have mutated to "Waddel," but it appears that it didn't do so. All of the Scottish examples of "Waddell" we found were originally "de Wedale," which indicates that it is a place-name. Also, none of the "Wedale's" had Irish names.
The "early form" of Lancelot's name you found is almost certainly an invention. "Lancelot" is a French name, and the character of Lancelot first appears in the work of Chretien de Troyes, a French writer who made major adaptation to the British Arthurian tales. Chretien and later period writers portray Lancelot as coming from France.
"Family arms" and "clan associations" are both modern inventions. We have more information on these in our FAQ list, found at
http://www.itd.umich.edu/~ximenez/s.gabriel/faq/
Although it's not certain that "wedale" means "wooded dale" as your original source said, that derivation is much closer to the actual origin of your name than a derivation from "gaedheal" or another word meaning "Irish."
Brian Scott, Josh Mittleman, Sharon Krossa, Christer Romson, and Heather Rose Jones contributed to this letter.
We hope this has been helpful. If we can be of further assistance, please let us know.
Sincerely,
Alan Terlep
Academy of S. Gabriel
(1) Black, G. "The Surnames of Scotland."
(2) Reaney & Wilson, "A Dictionary of British Surnames."
(3) Morgan & Morgan, "Welsh Names."