Hazen
Likely an old Danish nickname surname meaning “hare,” though some bearers may have taken it from a place-name or another local source.
The #4,710 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 40,991 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The strongest old dictionary explanation treats Hazen as a Danish word for “hare,” making it a nickname surname based on the animal. That sense fits the Scandinavian-looking form and is the only specific derivation given in the supplied sources. In English-speaking countries, however, the name may also have been influenced by unrelated place-based or family-name developments, so the exact origin can vary by line.
History
The surname appears in early American records, and 19th-century compiled name lists place it among names found in Boston and other New England materials. In the United States it has remained a relatively uncommon surname. Because the form is brief and historically mobile, some families may descend from immigrant Scandinavian lines while others may have English spellings that converged on the same form.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The old source that explains Hazen as “a hare” groups it with other short, distinctive surnames collected from Scandinavian naming traditions.
From the historical record
“HAZELWOOD. Local. A wood where hazel-nuts grow. HAZEN or HASEK (Dan.) A hare. HEAD. Anciently written Hede or Hide, Probably from the place written Hede or Hide in Doomsday Book, now Hithe, in Kent, Englandj where the earliest traces of the Head family are found. From the Anglo-Saxon Hithe, a harbor, a shelter for…”
— An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names