Hayman
A surname that may come from an occupational term like hayward, a topographic phrase for someone living by a hedge or enclosed meadow, or in some cases a personal-name line in the Irish and Norman record.
The #6,821 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 62,436 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name has more than one plausible origin. In English sources, it is often explained from hay or hedge, with a sense close to hayward: someone who watched over an enclosure, hedge, or park, or who lived by such a place. Another old explanation takes it as "high man," though that is less certain. A separate Irish family tradition traced Hayman/Heyman through Norman ancestry, from a baptismal name associated with Haimon/Hamon in continental records.
History
The surname appears in English records in several spellings, including Hayman and Heyman, and was used by families in different parts of Britain. Genealogists of the 19th century also reported an Irish Hayman line claiming descent from Norman nobility, though such pedigrees should be treated cautiously. Because the same spelling can reflect different origins, the surname may not have a single family history.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Old surname dictionaries themselves disagreed on whether Hayman was mainly an occupational name, a place-based name, or something inherited from Norman personal names.
From the historical record
“of a manor, however unimportant. HAYMAN. Hay signifies both a hedge and what it encloses ; hence Hayman and Hayer probably sometimes mean the same as Haj'ward, which see. But the Irish family of Hayman or Heyman deduce their pedigree from Rollo, the founder of Nor- mandy, through the Crevecoeurs, one of whom…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom