origin of the surname Hawken

[tempest]

I am trying to find out were my surname originated from?

[Quizmonster]

Click here. 'Hafoc' in Old English means 'hawk' - as you might guess - so perhaps they were originally hunters.

[Tatty Rollox]

.... and here is your Grandmother and Grandfather ....

[greenrook]

I live in the deep Westcountry and there are lots of people with your name and similar hereabouts. The Cornish think of themselves as Celts, but everyone in these Isles came from somewhere else originally, so I reckon you can pick an origination that pleases you. I can trace (in a fashion) my ancestors either to a turbulent sept who ran away from the vengeance of Brian Boru, or to a family who grew alders for the early Normans. I can be Irish or Old Norman depending on the present company, very handy...

[dot.hawkes]

Hiya, my surname (well my ex hubby's) I have traced back to the early 1500s in Buckingham shire, whilst it is natural to want to associate it's origins with a bird of prey, it is i believe an occupational surname deriving from Hawker, a seller or trader of wares. This was something i looked at closely , I found that my ex's Great Great Great Grandfather was Harris Hawkes of Lee Common near Great Missenden. When I found this name, it naturally made me think there was indeed something in the Hawk association, but in Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire the name is so prevalent for centuries that it is more likely the occupational origin that makes sense.

I have also found the name variations of Hawks, Haukes, Hawk, Hawke and Hawker.

[Quizmonster]

'Hawker', from Old English 'hafocere' meaning a falconer as I suggested earlier, dates back to the 10th century. 'Hawker', meaning someone who goes from door to door as a travelling salesman, dates back only to the 16th century.
The vast majority of surnames were in existence long, long before the 1500s, so it is really much more likely, I'd say, that the surname involved here has to do with falconry rather than flogging stuff!

[Tatty Rollox]

If you really want to go back, that is to find out from which of the 36 clan mothers you are descended (one of the Seven Daughters of Eve if you are European) have a DNA test through the company here .I've guessed sheep for Hawken, I've had mine done and whilst I do not wish to give too much away here is me and my mum.

[dot.hawkes]

I don't really follow your logic there Quizmonster, how many falconers could there possibly have been in a small Buckinghamshire village in the centuries between William the conquerer arriving with the concept of surnames and the 1400s when most people had adopted a surname? This family stayed put in those few tiny hamlets for centuries and made chairs, they were peasants like everyone else around them, they lived as far as i can work out, off the proceeds from their small cottage industry,

[Quizmonster]

Did you read the link I provided in the opening response above? It's not just my logic!

[Quizmonster]

I should have added above that - as you yourself said - most people had "adopted" surnames by the 1400s. Thus, it does not mean that, if you were called 'Falconer'. you actually were a falconer...or a baker or a taylor or a smith in the different circumstances involved in these names. Crowds of people with similar surnames in one village were not necessarily what their names declared them to be any more than they are today!

[Toureman]

Nothing to do with birds, look here..........

http://www.houseofnames.com/xq/asp.fc/qx/hawke n-family-crest.htm

[Quizmonster]

It seems, Toureman, that you didn't bother to click on the link I provided in the opening response above. How do I know? Because your link is precisely the same one!
So, where did I get the idea of birds from? Well, from the indisputable fact that 'hafoc' meant 'hawk' in Anglo-Saxon. In other words, the first guy called that either handled hawks or acted like one...ie was a fierce predator in battle. Whichever, the connection with birds is inescapable.