Hayes
A surname most often tied to a place name meaning “at the hay” or “hedge/enclosure,” though some forms may also reflect patronymic or local variants.
The #127 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 1,589 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In the historical surname dictionaries, Hayes is usually explained as a locational name from a place called Hay or Hays, or from residence by “the hay” or “the haie” — an enclosure, hedge, or fenced piece of land. The underlying word goes back to Old English and related medieval forms for a hedge, fence, or enclosed area. Some older writers also treated Hayes as a plural or variant spelling of Hay, while a few speculative explanations linked it to other surnames, but the place-name/landscape origin is the standard one.
History
The name appears in records from medieval England and later became established in several parish and place-name forms, especially in Kent and Middlesex, which older dictionaries specifically cite. As with many locational surnames, it could arise independently in more than one district where people were identified by where they lived. In modern usage Hayes is common in Britain, Ireland, and the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname dictionaries explicitly point to parishes called Hayes in Kent and Middlesex when explaining the name.
From the historical record
“HAYER. See under Hayman. HAYES. Parishes in Middlesex and Kent. HAYLEY. Hailey, a chapelry in co. Oxford. HAYLING. IL\ILING. An island near the coast of Hampshire and Sussex. HAYLORD. Probably "high-lord," or lord paramount. In the western counties this phrase is sometimes applied to the lord”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom