Hague

HAG (rhymes with “tag”)

A surname usually taken from a place-name, most likely linked to a “haw” or hedged enclosure.

The #4,960 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 43,528 Americans shares it.

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Etymology

Bardsley and Barber both connect Hague with an old word for a hedge, enclosure, or fenced place, from Old English haga. In Dutch and related forms, a similar word appears in place-names such as Den Haag, known in older English as “the Hague.” The surname was therefore likely first used for someone who lived near or came from such a place.

History

The name appears in medieval records in forms such as de Hagha, showing its early use as a locational surname. In Britain it is often treated as a variant of Haig or Haigh, especially in Yorkshire and Lancashire. It also spread into later English-speaking records in a variety of spellings.

Origin

locationalOld EnglishDutch

Regions

EnglandYorkshireLancashireThe Netherlands

Variant spellings

HaigHaighHaggHageHagHuygheHague

Fun fact

The same root behind this surname also lies behind the English place-name “the Hague,” from Dutch Gravenhage, literally “the count’s hedge/enclosure.”

From the historical record

“1 (U.S.X o, 2, o. Hagg.— Local, 'at the haw'; ■ Haig or Hague, of which it is ■ n de Hagha. .”

— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances

Notable people named Hague

Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.

Related surnames

Confidence: mixed. Sources: A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan), British Family Names: their origin and meaning (2nd ed.), British Family Names: their origin and meaning (1st ed.).

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