Hackett
Usually a diminutive of Hake, an old personal name, though some sources also connect it with Norman French Haket and related forms.
The #1,772 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 15,226 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Hackett is generally explained as a diminutive or descendant of the old personal name Hake, with the sense of "little Hake" or "son of Hake." The name Hake itself is usually linked to Old Norse and related Germanic naming traditions, and Barber also notes Norman French Haket and related continental forms. Because medieval spellings vary a lot, some early writers treated Hackett as closely allied to Hacket/Haggett and similar surnames.
History
Historical references place the name in England quite early, and Bardsley notes forms such as Haket in medieval records, especially in eastern counties. Lower and Bardsley both associate the surname with old English and Norman usages rather than with a trade or place-name. The surname later spread widely in Britain and then to North America.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century source claimed the surname was already on the Roll of Battle Abbey among followers of the Conqueror, showing how old the recorded forms were thought to be.
From the historical record
“figuratively, a brave soldier." HACKETT. A known corruption of Ilarcourt, 1GG9. See Burn's Tradesmen's Tokens, p. 73. But Hacket, a non-prefixed surname, is found in H.R. HACKFORTH. A township in York- shire. HACKMAN. Hack is a provincial word for a pick-axe or mattock, and also for a hedge ; hence Hackman and…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom