Hare
Usually a nickname surname meaning “swift as a hare,” though some families may have taken it from place-names or older Gaelic forms.
The #2,236 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 18,937 Americans shares it.
Etymology
In English use, Hare is commonly explained as a nickname from the animal hare, applied to someone thought to be quick-footed or swift. Lower explicitly glosses it this way, and Bardsley also lists it among surnames formed from animal nicknames for speed. Harrison notes a separate Celtic connection and points readers to O'Hare, so not every family called Hare necessarily shares the same origin.
History
The surname appears in medieval records and later becomes established in England as well as in Scottish and Irish contexts. Some English families associated the name with Harcourt in Lorraine, a tradition recorded by Lower, but that is a family claim rather than a universal derivation. Because hare-based nicknames were common, the surname may have arisen independently in more than one place.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Bardsley grouped Hare with surnames like Hart, Buck, and Fox as examples of animal nicknames used for personal traits such as speed or temperament.
From the historical record
“charter A.D. 901 (' Cart. Sax.' no. 588), HARE (Celt.) see O'Hare. HORDERN (Eng.) It is perhaps tempting to see in this name the O.E. hordern, ' treasury,' ' storehouse '; but the proba- bilities are all against the theory; and the two places called Hordern are in the same North-Mercian region where the O.E. ceorl-…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)