Hargrove
A surname that likely began as a place-name for someone from Hargrave or a similar “hare grove” locality.
The #1,764 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 15,164 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Hargrove is generally treated as a locational surname. It is closely connected with Hargrave, a place-name interpreted as coming from Old English elements meaning either “hare grove” or, in some analyses, “grey grove.” The spelling has shifted over time, and the surname Hargrove is one of several forms that grew out of that place-name tradition.
History
The name appears in English records in a range of spellings, including Hargrave and Hargrove, reflecting medieval variation in how place-names were written and pronounced. Later surname bearers spread beyond the original localities, and the modern form Hargrove became established especially in English-speaking regions, including the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Nineteenth-century surname writers explicitly linked Hargrove with Hargrave and noted that the place-name element grave/grove could reflect a grove rather than a grave.
From the historical record
“HargraTS, Bargraves, Ear- greave, Hargreaves, Ear- grevea, Hargrove, Eargrovea. — Local, ' of Hargrave, ' parishes in diocs. Chester, Ely, Peterborough; grave = grove. Probably the hare- grove (v. gTov4, Skeal). The Har-”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances