Haber
A surname with more than one possible origin, most often tied to Germanic words for “oats” or to an old Germanic personal-name element meaning “possession.”
The #6,458 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 58,719 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is probably not from a single source. In German, Middle High German haber means “oats,” the same word behind modern German Hafer, so it can be a topographic or occupational-style name connected with oats or oat fields. Some older surname dictionaries also connect Haber with an ancient Germanic name element hab- meaning “possession,” which appears in old personal names and could underlie some related forms. In some contexts it may also reflect a shortened or variant form of other surnames rather than one fixed origin.
History
The name appears in Germanic areas in medieval records and survives in several spellings, including forms with Hab- and Habr-. English and French surname books sometimes mention it only in passing, usually as a comparative example rather than as a common native English surname. Because the same spelling can arise from different roots, modern bearers may descend from more than one unrelated family line.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
German has kept the descendant of this old word in the modern word Hafer, meaning “oats,” while older dialect forms like haber still show up in surname studies.
From the historical record
“3 = y. MERCER (A.-Fr.-Lat.) Storekeeper; Haber- dasher, Draper [M.E. mercer, Fr. mercieti L.Lat. mercerius, trader ; Lat. merx, mercis, merchandise},”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)