Haire
An Irish surname usually treated as a spelling variant of O’Hare, ultimately from an old Gaelic family name in County Clare.
The #5,942 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 53,287 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Historical surname dictionaries usually treat Haire as an Anglicized form of an older Irish name written O’Hehir / O’Haeir and related spellings, later shortened and reshaped into Haire and Hare. The Irish base is linked to a Gaelic family or sept name from Clare; the older exact Gaelic form is not always presented consistently in 19th-century sources. In English spelling, the name could also be influenced by the common word hare, but for this surname the Irish derivation is the one most often given.
History
Lower says the family was recorded in Clare by the 14th century, with traditions placing them much earlier, though he is cautious about the legendary part. Woulfe also lists Haire among spellings associated with O’Hare/O’Hehir. In practice the surname is most strongly connected with County Clare and its surrounding Irish diaspora.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some 19th-century writers noted that the same family name could appear in several spellings, including O’Hehir, O’Hare, Hare, and Haire.
From the historical record
“son. HAIRE. This Irish surname, previously to the year 1770, was written OTIehir. The traditions of the family deduce them from the race of Fingal in the third cent., but historical evidence carries them back no further than the reign of Edw. III., 1365, when the representation of the family vested in the…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom