Haug
A surname with several possible roots, including a Scandinavian word for a mound or hill and, in some places, a German nickname form related to Hugo.
The #6,757 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 61,885 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Haug has more than one plausible source. In Scandinavian place-names, Old Norse haug-r means a mound, barrow, or hill, so Haug can be locational or topographic. German surname evidence also links Haug to short forms of Hugo and related names, though the historical development is not always clear. Some older writers also noted a different English dialect word haug meaning brother-in-law, but that is less likely to explain the modern surname broadly.
History
The name appears in northern European records in several forms, especially in Scandinavia and German-speaking areas. In English sources, forms like Haug and Haugh were sometimes discussed alongside local words or place-names, but the surname’s spread is not tied to one single origin. Because different families may have different roots, the name is best treated as multiple-origin rather than one fixed derivation.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Old Norse haug-r is the same root seen in many Scandinavian place-names ending in -haug or -haugen, both referring to a hill or burial mound.
From the historical record
“cent. Presho, Preshow, i4tn cent. Preshou, Preeshow [The second element is evidently O.N. haug-r, a mound : the first element is obscur^ ; it does not seem to represent a Scand. pers. name, and as thereis a hamlet called Preese (Domesday Pres)in the same Hundred of Amounderness the possibility of Pres- being the…”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)