HAWES

The Hawes surname is of English origin and originally arose from the Middle English word haw, meaning a hedge or enclosure. It is thus a topographic name for persons who resided near such an enclosure, and it was subsequently adopted as a hereditary surname passed down through successive generations.

Alternative early origins are locational. One possibility is that the surname denoted a person living at a place called a hause, a term applied to a neck of land that often served as a gathering point for livestock. The place name Hawes in Yorkshire is identical in meaning but the surname appears in documentary records before the town itself was named, suggesting that the name was taken from a pre‑existing geographic feature rather than the town.

A third possibility is patronymic. The medieval given name Haw, a diminutive of Hawkin or Havekin, ultimately derived from the Old English pre‑7th century word Hafoc, could have been used as a personal identifier which then became the family name. Spelling variants recorded in the 13th and 14th centuries include Hawyse, de la Hawe and Hawe.

There is also evidence that the surname originated from a female personal name introduced by the Normans after 1066. The name Haueis, a Germanic form of Haduwidis, is composed of the elements Hadu meaning strife and widi meaning wide. The earliest recorded instance of this personal name is Hawis, appearing in the Curia Regis Rolls of Suffolk for the year 1208.

Earliest documentary evidence of the surname appears as Alan del Hawse in the Hundred Rolls of Oxfordshire in 1272, during the reign of King Edward I. Other early spellings recorded in ecclesiastical and civil documents include Hawes, Hawe and Haws. An early colonial connection is shown by Reginoll Hawes, a settler who left London for Virginia on 15 January 1634.

In contemporary times the surname remains predominantly found in England, where it is most frequent in Norfolk, London and Yorkshire, and in the United States, where high concentrations appear in Virginia, Massachusetts, Maine, California and Illinois. Variants of the name that have arisen through regional dialects and transcription differences include Haw, Haugh, Houst, Haws, Hause and Hawse. These variations illustrate the phonetic evolution and dispersion of the name across English‑speaking societies.

Typical given names associated with the Hawes surname

Male

• Andrew
• Christopher
• David
• James
• John
• Mark
• Michael
• Peter
• Richard
• Stephen

Female

• Elizabeth
• Emma
• Jane
• Julie
• Karen
• Lisa
• Margaret
• Mary
• Nicola
• Patricia
• Sandra
• 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 Hawes in...

Braille

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Morse

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Semaphore

Origin: English

Region of origin: British Isles

Country of origin: England

Religion of origin: Christian

Language of origin: English

Famous people named Hawes

• Keeley Hawes - Actress
• John Hawes - Archirect and priest (1876 to 1956)
• Tim Hawes - Musician
• Ben Hawes - Field hockey player
• Jean Hawes - Hockey executive (1932 to 2008)
• Arthur Hawes - Football player (1895 to 1963)

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.

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