Hackney
An English habitational surname from places called Hackney, especially the parish now in London, originally meaning “hedged or enclosed land.”
The #3,727 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 32,476 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Hackney is a habitational surname from the parish of Hackney in Middlesex, which is recorded in medieval forms such as Hakeneie and Hakeneye. The place-name is usually explained from Old English elements meaning “heathen” or “Haka's” in older speculative readings, but the safer, commonly cited sense in surname dictionaries is that it refers to a local place-name built around an Old English word for a hedged or enclosed area. In genealogical use, the surname simply means “from Hackney.”
History
The name appears in medieval records in several spellings and later became established as a surname for people who came from the Hackney area. Because Hackney was a well-known parish near London, the surname could spread widely as people moved into the capital and beyond. It is one of several English surnames formed from London-area place-names.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Hackney also gave English the word “hackney” for a riding horse available for hire, though that word-history is separate from the surname’s place-name origin.
From the historical record
“of hedges. HACKNEY. A parish in I\Hddlcsex. In H.R. the surname is written Hakeneie, Hakeneye, Hakenie, &c. HACKSTAFF. See under Shakspeare. HACKWELL. A parish in Essex. HACKWITH. A corruption of Ack- worth, a local name. HACKWOOD, A corruption of .4c-”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom