HammerGerman, English, Jewish From Middle High German hamer, Yiddish hamer, a metonymic occupational name for a maker or user of hammers, for example in a forge, or nickname for a forceful person.
HampshireEnglish Originally indicated a person from the county of Hampshire in England (recorded in the Domesday Book as Hantescire), derived from Old English ham meaning "water meadow, enclosure" and scir meaning "shire, district"... [more]
HannamEnglish Habitational name from a place called Hanham in Gloucestershire, which was originally Old English Hānum, dative plural of hān ‘rock’, hence ‘(place) at the rocks’. The ending -ham is by analogy with other place names with this very common unstressed ending.
HarbinEnglish This surname is of Anglo-Saxon origins, and is derived from the personal names Rabin, Robin, and Robert. It has the English prefix 'har', which means gray.... [more]
HarbourEnglish Variant of French Arbour or a metonymic occupational name for a keeper of a lodging house, from Old English herebeorg "shelter, lodging".
HardacreEnglish Topographic name for someone who lived on a patch of poor, stony land, from Middle English hard "hard, difficult" and aker "cultivated land" (Old English æcer), or a habitational name from Hardacre, a place in Clapham, West Yorkshire, which has this etymology.
HardleyEnglish The name comes from when a family lived in the village of Hartley which was in several English counties including Berkshire, Devon, Dorset, Kent, Lancashire, York and Northumberland. This place-name was originally derived from the Old English words hart which means a stag and lea which means a wood or clearing.
HarlessEnglish, German English: probably a variant spelling of Arliss, a nickname from Middle English earles ‘earless’, probably denoting someone who was deaf rather than one literally without ears.
HarlinEnglish English surname transferred to forename use, from the Norman French personal name Herluin, meaning "noble friend" or "noble warrior."
HarndenEnglish From an English village Harrowden in Bedfordshire. This place name literally means "hill of the heathen shrines or temples," from the Old English words hearg and dun.
HartfordEnglish Habitational name from Hertford, or from either of two places called Hartford, in Cheshire and Cumbria; all are named with Old English heorot ‘hart’ + ford ‘ford’.
HartwellEnglish Habitational name from places in Buckinghamshire, Northamptonshire, and Staffordshire called Hartwell, from Old English heorot ‘stag’, ‘hart’ + wella ‘spring’, ‘stream’... [more]
HarvardEnglish From the Old English given name Hereweard, composed of the elements here "army" and weard "guard", which was borne by an 11th-century thane of Lincolnshire, leader of resistance to the advancing Normans... [more]
HarwinEnglish From the Old French personal name Harduin, composed of the Germanic elements hard 'hardy', 'brave' + win 'friend'.
HarwoodEnglish, Scots Habitation name found especially along the border areas of England and Scotland, from the Old English elements har meaning "gray" or hara referring to the animals called "hares" plus wudu for "wood"... [more]
HasleyEnglish Habitational name of uncertain origin. The surname is common in London, and may be derived from Alsa (formerly Assey) in Stanstead Mountfitchet, Essex (recorded as Alsiesheye in 1268). nother possible source is Halsway in Somerset, named from Old English hals ‘neck’ + weg ‘way’, ‘road’.
HassallEnglish Means "person from Hassall", Cheshire ("witch's corner of land").
HastingsEnglish, Scottish Habitational name from Hastings, a place in Sussex, on the south coast of England, near which the English army was defeated by the Normans in 1066. It is named from Old English H?stingas ‘people of H?sta’... [more]
HatchEnglish English (mainly Hampshire and Berkshire): topographic name from Middle English hacche ‘gate’, Old English hæcc (see Hatcher). In some cases the surname is habitational, from one of the many places named with this word... [more]
HatcherEnglish Southern English: topographic name for someone who lived by a gate, from Middle English hacche (Old English hæcc) + the agent suffix -er. This normally denoted a gate marking the entrance to a forest or other enclosed piece of land, sometimes a floodgate or sluice-gate.
HatterEnglish This name derives from the Old English pre 7th Century "haet" meaning a hat and was originally given either as an occupational name to a maker or seller of hats
HattonEnglish Habitational name from any of the various places named Hatton.
HavelockEnglish From the Middle English male personal name Havelok, from Old Norse Hafleikr, literally "sea sport". It was borne by the British general Sir Henry Havelock (1795-1857).
HaverfordWelsh, English Haverford's name is derived from the name of the town of Haverfordwest in Wales, UK
HaversEnglish Possible variant of Haver, a German, Dutch and English surname. In Germany or England it refers to oats and is used as an occupational surname for a grower or seller of oats... [more]
HawleyEnglish, Scottish Means "hedged meadow". It comes from the English word haw, meaning "hedge", and Saxon word leg, meaning "meadow". The first name Hawley has the same meaning.
HaworthEnglish Literally means "enclosure with a hedge," from the Old English words haga + worth.
HayEnglish, Scottish, Irish, Welsh, French, Spanish, German, Dutch, Frisian Scottish and English: topographic name for someone who lived by an enclosure, Middle English hay(e), heye(Old English (ge)hæg, which after the Norman Conquest became confused with the related Old French term haye ‘hedge’, of Germanic origin)... [more]
HaycockEnglish English (West Midlands): from a medieval personal name, a pet form of Hay, formed with the Middle English hypocoristic suffix -cok (see Cocke).
HayfordEnglish English habitational name from several places called Heyford in Northamptonshire and Oxfordshire, or Hayford in Buckfastleigh, Devon, all named with Old English heg ‘hay’ + ford ‘ford’.
HaylingEnglish Either (i) "person from Hayling", Hampshire ("settlement of Hægel's people"); or (ii) from the Old Welsh personal name Heilyn, literally "cup-bearer" (see also Palin).
HaylockEnglish English surname of uncertain origin, possibly from the Old English given name Hægluc, a diminutive of the unrecorded name *Hægel, found in various place names... [more]
HayworthEnglish English: habitational name from Haywards Heath in Sussex, which was named in Old English as ‘enclosure with a hedge’, from hege ‘hedge’ + worð ‘enclosure’. The modern form, with its affix, arose much later on (Mills gives an example from 1544).
HazardEnglish, French, Dutch Nickname for an inveterate gambler or a brave or foolhardy man prepared to run risks, from Middle English, Old French hasard, Middle Dutch hasaert (derived from Old French) "game of chance", later used metaphorically of other uncertain enterprises... [more]
HazeltineEnglish This unusual surname is of Anglo-Saxon origin, and is a locational surname from any of the various places that get their name from the Olde English pre 7th century “hoesel”, hazel and “-denut”, a valley, for example Heselden in Durham and, Hasselden in Sussex.
HazeltonEnglish Hazel is referring to hazel trees, while ton is from old english tun meaning enclosure, so an enclosure of hazel trees, or an orchard of hazel trees.
HazelwoodEnglish Habitational name from any of various places, for example in Devon, Derbyshire, Suffolk, Surrey, and West Yorkshire, so called from Old English hæsel (or Old Norse hesli) ‘hazel (tree)’ + wudu ‘wood’; or a topographic name from this term.
HeadleeEnglish (Rare) The Anglo-Saxon name Headlee comes from when the family resided in one of a variety of similarly-named places. Headley in Hampshire is the oldest. The surname Headlee belongs to the large category of Anglo-Saxon habitation names, which are derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads.
HealeyEnglish Habitational surname for a person from Healey near Manchester, derived from Old English heah "high" + leah "wood", "clearing". There are various other places in northern England, such as Northumberland and Yorkshire, with the same name and etymology, and they may also have contributed to the surname.
HeardEnglish Occupational name for a tender of animals, normally a cowherd or shepherd, from Middle English herde (Old English hi(e)rde).
HeathcoteEnglish English habitational name from any of various places called Heathcote, for example in Derbyshire and Warwickshire, from Old English h?ð ‘heathland’, ‘heather’ + cot ‘cottage’, ‘dwelling’.
HeatherEnglish Topographic name, a variant of Heath with the addition of the habitational suffix -er. This surname is widespread in southern England, and also well established in Ireland.
HedgeEnglish Topographic name for someone who lived by a hedge, Middle English hegg(e). In the early Middle Ages, hedges were not merely dividers between fields, but had an important defensive function when planted around a settlement or enclosure.
HelliwellEnglish From various place names in United Kingdom. Derived from Olde English elements of "halig" meaning holy, and "waella", a spring.
HelmsleyEnglish This English habitational name originates with the North Yorkshire village of Helmsley, named with the Old English personal name Helm and leah, meaning 'clearing'.
HeltonEnglish (American) Habitational name from Helton in Cumbria, named in Old English probably with helde "slope" and tun "farmstead, settlement", or possibly a variant of Hilton... [more]
HemberEnglish From the West Country area near Bristol.
HemsleyEnglish English: habitational name from either of two places in North Yorkshire called Helmsley. The names are of different etymologies: the one near Rievaulx Abbey is from the Old English personal name Helm + Old English leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’, whereas Upper Helmsley, near York, is from the Old English personal name Hemele + Old English eg ‘island’, and had the form Hemelsey till at least the 14th century
HemsworthEnglish Habitational name from a place in West Yorkshire, England, meaning "Hymel's enclosure".
HenceGerman, English, Welsh An American spelling variant of Hentz derived from a German nickname for Hans or Heinrich or from an English habitation name found in Staffordshire or Shropshire and meaning "road or path" in Welsh.
HenleyEnglish, Irish, German (Anglicized) English: habitational name from any of the various places so called. Most, for example those in Oxfordshire, Suffolk, and Warwickshire, are named with Old English héan (the weak dative case of heah ‘high’, originally used after a preposition and article) + Old English leah ‘wood’, ‘clearing’... [more]
HensleyEnglish Probably a habitational name from either of two places in Devon: Hensley in East Worlington, which is named with the Old English personal name Heahmund + Old English leah ‘(woodland) clearing’, or Hensleigh in Tiverton, which is named from Old English hengest ‘stallion’ (or the Old English personal name Hengest) + leah... [more]
HenwoodEnglish Habitational name from any of various places so named, as for example Henwood in Cornwall, in Linkinhorne parish, which is named from Old English henn 'hen', 'wild bird' + wudu 'wood', or Hen Wood in Wootton, Oxfordshire
HerefordEnglish Habitational name from Hereford in Herefordshire, or Harford in Devon and Goucestershire, all named from Old English here "army" + ford "ford".
HeritageEnglish (Rare) English status name for someone who inherited land from an ancestor, rather than by feudal gift from an overlord, from Middle English, Old French (h)eritage ‘inherited property’ (Late Latin heritagium, from heres ‘heir’).
HerndonEnglish From Herne, a cottage, and den, a valley. The cottage in the valley.
HeroldEnglish, Dutch, German From the given name Herold. This was the surname of David Herold, one of the conspirators in the Abraham Lincoln assassination plot.
HestonEnglish, Irish Derived from Heston, a suburban area in West London (historically in Middlesex), or Histon, a village and civil parish in Cambridgeshire, England. It is either named with Old English hǣs meaning "brushwood" and tūn meaning "farmstead, settlement, estate", or from hyse "shoot, tendril, son, youth" and tūn... [more]
HewEnglish English: variant of the name Hugh. This was at one time the usual form of the personal name in Scotland. English: occupational name from Middle English hewe ‘domestic servant’