Hedrick
A surname most likely from a place-name or a nickname-like personal name, with later English and Germanic forms overlapping.
The #1,918 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 16,419 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The sources point to more than one possible source for Hedrick, and none is fully secure. One line of explanation treats it as a shortened or altered form of a local surname or place-name, possibly connected with forms like Hedderley or a place-name beginning with Hedge-/Hed-; another suggests influence from a personal-name formation. Because the historical evidence is thin and the spellings vary, the safest conclusion is that Hedrick arose from a medieval name or place-name whose exact root is uncertain.
History
The surname appears in English-language surname collections and also in records of Germanic immigrant names, which may reflect more than one independent source or later spelling convergence. In the United States, Hedrick has become established as a relatively uncommon but familiar surname. The modern American distribution likely reflects both older British usage and later immigration patterns.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Hedrick is common enough in the U.S. to rank in the top 2,000 surnames in the 2010 census, with about 18,800 bearers.
From the historical record
“Hedderley. See Adderley Hedderwick. From Hedrick (?) ; a loc. n., Dur. Heddle. Dch. Hedel ; a p.n. Dim. of Head”
— British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.)