Hearn
An Irish surname usually linked to O'Ahern, though some English sources also connect it with a local word for a corner or nook.
The #2,385 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 20,267 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Hearn is most often treated as an Anglicized form of the Irish O’Ahern, with related spellings such as Hearn, Hearne, Ahern, and Aherne. Irish sources also group it with forms ultimately from Gaelic surnames written in Irish script, showing how the same name was recorded in several English spellings. In older English onomastic work, however, Hearn was sometimes explained as a local name connected with a word meaning a corner or nook, so the name has been given more than one etymology in historical scholarship.
History
The name is well attested in Irish and Irish-American records, where it often appears alongside Ahern and Aherne. English surname writers in the 19th century also treated Hearn as a variant or related form of local surnames such as Hurn and Heron, which shows how fluid spelling could be in earlier records. Today Hearn is found in both Ireland and the English-speaking diaspora.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same surname family can appear in records under several different spellings, and Woulfe explicitly groups Hearn with Ahern/Aherne and also with forms like Heron and Herron.
From the historical record
“herdsman. HEARN. HEARNE. A modification of the Irish O'Ahern. HEC 153 HEL”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom