Hawes
Usually a habitational surname from places called Hawes, or from an old term for a hedge, enclosure, or low riverside ground.
The #3,590 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 31,161 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Hawes is usually explained as a locational surname, especially from the Yorkshire place-name Hawes. Historical sources also connect it with an older northern word, spelled variously as hawe, hawnh, or similar forms, meaning a hedge, enclosure, yard, or low-lying ground near a river. In some cases it may have been used for someone who lived "at the hawe" or "in le Hawe," rather than directly from a town name.
History
Medieval records cited by older surname writers include forms such as le Hawe, de la Hawe, and atte-Hawe, showing the surname in use by the 13th and 14th centuries. Later writers often treated Hawes as a Yorkshire surname, but they also noted that similar forms could arise independently from landscape features or enclosures. The surname is therefore a good example of how one spelling can reflect more than one local origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname books explicitly noted that Hawes could be confused with Haworth or even with words for a hillock, showing how flexible medieval place-based naming could be.
From the historical record
“Ilawarden. HAWES. Sometimes from Henry, through Hal, and so the parent of the surname Hawkins ; but probably oftener from the 0. Eng. and Scot, havnh, low-lyiug ground near a river — sometimes confounded with liough, a hilloclc. In le Hawe is a H.R. surname, as is also Del Hawes. HAWGOOD. A corruption of Hawk-…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom