Hickey

Etymology

Hickey is most commonly explained as an Anglicized Irish surname, often linked to Gaelic forms such as O hIcidhe or related spellings recorded in older sources. In English records, it was also treated as a surname formed from the pet name Hick, a short form used for names like Richard or Isaac, with the addition of a familiar ending. Because early writers did not always agree, the surname may have more than one historical source in different families.

History

The name is well established in Ireland, especially in Munster, and was later carried abroad through migration, particularly to Britain and North America. Older surname dictionaries sometimes grouped Hickey with other Hick- based names and treated it as a diminutive or family-name variant. Other authorities, especially Irish onomastic works, connect it with a Gaelic surname tradition, so the exact origin can vary by family line.

Origin

Regions

Variant spellings

Fun fact

Nineteenth-century surname writers disagreed on Hickey: some derived it from the pet name Hick, while others gave it an Irish Gaelic origin.

Related surnames