Hedges
A surname that usually began as a topographic name for someone who lived by the hedges or enclosures.
The #3,690 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 32,077 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Hedges is generally understood as a topographic surname from Middle English hedge, meaning a hedge or enclosing barrier, ultimately from Old English hecg. In this sense, it originally identified someone who lived by a hedge, boundary, or enclosed piece of land. Older surname dictionaries also treat it as a later plural or developed form of earlier hedge-based names.
History
19th-century surname writers commonly grouped Hedges with other names formed from residence near hedges or enclosures. The form is well established in English records, and related surnames such as Hedge, Hedger, and Hedgman were treated as part of the same name family. In modern usage it survives as a fairly common English-language surname, especially in Britain and the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One older source explicitly glosses Hedges as the modern form of an earlier "At-Hedge," showing how surnames could lose their original preposition over time.
From the historical record
“HEDGER. A maker of hedges. HEDGES. The modern form of At- Hedge— first derived from residence near one. HEDGMAN. The same as Hedger or Hedges. HEDLEY. Townships in Northumber- land, Durham, and Yorkshire. HEELE. See Hele.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom