Hardaway
A locational surname meaning someone who lived by or came from the “hard way,” a hard road or track.
The #6,562 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 59,800 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is generally explained as a locational name from Middle English hard wei or hard way, literally “hard road” or “difficult way,” used for someone who lived by such a route. The final -a- is usually treated as an intrusive vowel added for easier pronunciation, rather than part of the original place-name form. Some 19th-century writers also connected it with the English place-name Hardway in Hampshire.
History
The name appears in English surname collections as a local or topographic byname, and it later shows up in English and American records. Because the spelling with -away is relatively stable, it likely reflects a spoken form that became fixed in writing. Modern bearers are especially found in the United States, where the name has remained uncommon but well established.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Early surname scholars compared Hardaway with other names that gained an extra vowel for ease of speech, such as Greenaway and Hathaway.
From the historical record
“Hardaway. — Local, ' at the hard way' i.e. the hard road, from residence thereby. The middle a is inlru^ve for euphony ; cf. Grecn-a-way, Ott-a-way, Hath- a-way, &c.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instancesNotable people named Hardaway
- Stevie Wonder (b. 1950)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.