Haws
Usually an English locational surname, meaning someone who lived by a haw or enclosed yard.
The #7,992 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 74,612 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Bardsley treats Haws as a local surname from Middle English atte haws, meaning "at the haws." Here haw refers to an enclosed place, yard, or garth, a word related to Old English hege/hegh in some historical explanations and to the broader family of place-terms seen in Hay and Haig. The surname could also reflect residence near a hedge, enclosure, or similarly bounded plot.
History
The name appears in medieval records in forms such as Attehawes and related spellings, showing the common English habit of turning a dwelling description into a hereditary surname. Later records preserve spellings like Hawe, Hawes, and Haws, with the final -s sometimes reflecting a genitive or pluralized local form. It is an English surname and is found in scattered modern bearers, including in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
19th-century surname writers sometimes glossed this name as literally meaning someone living "at the haw," an old word for an enclosed yard or garth.
From the historical record
“sentatives, but doubtieu some AthawM.— Local, 'atte-haws," from residence beside the haws ; cf. Attwood, Attwdl, Athow, &c., and V. Hawe. AttehainF, vicar of Sonlli”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances