HACKER
Hacker is a surname of primarily German origin, though it has long been established in the British Isles. The name descends from the Middle High German word hacker, meaning a woodcutter or someone who uses an axe in the production of timber. In an occupational context it denoted a woodsman, lumberjack or a craftsman who specialised in cutting implements such as billhooks or scythes.
In England the surname appears in the early medieval record. The earliest secure reference is Adam le Hakkere listed in 1262 in an occupation register for Hampshire during the reign of Henry I. Further instances include John Hakyere in the 1296 Subsidy Rolls of Sussex and William Hakker in the 1411 Close Rolls. Church documents record individuals such as Alice Hacker, who married Edward Pusey at St Margaret, Westminster in 1620, and Deane Hacker, christened at St Margaret, Lothbury in 1666.
During the early seventeenth century John Hacker, then seventeen, is noted as one of the first emigrants to America. His name appears in the 1624 muster of James City, Virginia, after sailing from London on the ship Hopewell in 1623. The surname also features in the political history of the period; Colonel Francis Hacker, a signatory to the death warrant of King Charles I and overseer of the king’s execution in 1649, was executed in 1660 for his role as a regicide.
The word hacker shares its root with the English verb hack, meaning to cut or to chop. Consequently the surname may also have been applied to agricultural workers who operated a mattock or hoe, or to individuals dwelling near a hedged enclosure, derived from the Old English haca meaning hedge.
Variations of the surname include Hacher, Hackert, Hackar, Hackerd, Haecker, Heckert, Heckard, Hecker and Hakker, among others. Pronunciations and spellings have shifted with migration and language, producing Anglicised forms such as Hack, Hacks and Hacka in the United States. The surname remains common in Germany, Austria and the United Kingdom, as well as in the United Kingdom where it arrived with waves of German immigration.
Typical given names associated with the Hacker surname
Male
- Andrew
- David
- Jason
- John
- Jonathan
- Mark
- Michael
- Paul
- Richard
- Robert
Female
- Ann
- Georgina
- Jane
- Joanna
- Judith
- Karen
- Linda
- Lisa
- Lucy
- Margaret
- Mary
- Patricia
- Sarah
- Susan
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Hacker in...
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Morse
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There are approximately 1,622 people named Hacker in the UK. That makes it roughly the 5,009th most common surname in Britain. Around 25 in a million people in Britain are named Hacker.
Surname type: Occupational name
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Hacker
- Peter Hacker - Philosopher
- Peter Hacker - Cricketer
- Alan Hacker - Clarinetist (1938 to 2012)
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.