HAW
Haw is an English surname with a documented history that spans more than eight centuries. It is first recorded in the Norman and Anglo‑Saxon periods and has persisted into the modern era, retaining a presence in many English‑speaking societies around the world.
The name derives from the Old English verb haga, meaning an enclosure or hedge. In a topographic sense, it was applied to individuals who resided by a hedged field or a manorial boundary. Alternatively, the medieval word hoh, meaning a spur of a hill, could have produced the locational form, indicating a person living on a prominent hill. A further possibility is that Haw functioned as a nickname for someone with hawk‑like qualities, coming from the Middle English hawke.
In the North North‑East of England the word haga appears to have been borrowed from Old Norse during the 8th century, and it is recounted as a residence within a wood known as a haga. By the 12th and 13th centuries the surname appears in a variety of forms—Haw, Haws, Hawes and Hawyes—depending on local dialect and orthographic practice. The form Hawes, for example, may be patronymic, derived from Haw(e)+son, or it may point toward the Yorkshire village of Hawes, recording an older settlement. Early medieval entries include Peter in la Hawe, Cambridge, 1279 and Thomas Haw of Wakefield, Yorkshire, 1307. The earliest recorded spelling, Richard Haga, is found in the Pipe Rolls of Lincoln, 1179, during the reign of King Edward I, who was known as the “Hammer of the Scots”.
In the 13th‑century Curia Rolls of Suffolk a woman named Hawis is recorded, pointing to a Norman female personal name Haueis. This name is derived from the Germanic Haduwidis, composed of the elements Hadu (strife or contention) and widi (broad or strong). The record suggests that the surname was associated with a personal name as well as a topographic or locational origin, a fusion that is not uncommon in English onomastics.
In later centuries the surname was closely linked to the craft of hedging and walling. Those employed as wallers—workers who built embankments or fences—were sometimes referred to as hedgers, an occupational designation that may explain the usage of Haw as an identifier. The name also appears in place names: Hawes literally meaning “the fence”, or Hawthorn referring to a hawthorn bush that may have marked a boundary. The Haw family is often noted, in parish records, for living on the edge of villages, near water or on dividing lines, duties that emphasised loyalty and stewardship within their communities.
Statistical data demonstrate that Haw remains common in English‑speaking nations. In the United States it ranked at 3,310th in the 2020 census. In England and Wales it was ranked 186,979th in 2018; its frequency in Scotland was 224,299th in 2019. Canadian records list Haw as the 15,765th most common surname, 2011, while Australian census data place it at 17,504th in 2016. In South Africa the surname was 12,261st in 2019, confirming a global dispersion that follows patterns of British colonial migration.
Variants across the British Isles and beyond include Hawes, common in Cumberland, Yorkshire and Norfolk; Haws, found in Cheshire and Worcestershire; Haugh or Haughy, primarily in Donegal, Monaghan and Tyrone; and Scottish forms such as How. Germanic variants such as Hausr, Hauss (or Haus) and Hauck reflect the name’s spread into continental Europe, while the French spelling Léau appears in the Vienne and Saône‑et‑Loire regions. Other spellings—including Hauke, Haux, Hoffe and Have—are also extant, yet all these forms are traceable back to the same Old English root.
Throughout its history the surname Haw demonstrates a steadfast continuity, reflected in its etymological richness and its geographic reach. Whether described as an enclosure, a hill spur, or a hawk‑like trait, the name carries a heritage tied to the land, to craftsmanship, and to a sense of communal responsibility that echoes across centuries.
Typical given names associated with the Haw surname
Male
- Andrew
- Christopher
- David
- James
- John
- Michael
- Peter
- Richard
- Robert
- Stephen
- William
Female
- Angela
- Barbara
- Catherine
- Deborah
- Eileen
- Jacqueline
- Juliet
- Karen
- Lp
- Margaret
- Patricia
- Samantha
- Sharon
- 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 Haw in...
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There are approximately 1,082 people named Haw in the UK. That makes it roughly the 6,942nd most common surname in Britain. Around 17 in a million people in Britain are named Haw.
Origin: English
Region of origin: British Isles
Country of origin: England
Religion of origin: Christian
Language of origin: English
Famous people named Haw
- Brian Haw - Peace activist (1949 to 2011)
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.