Hakonsen

This most interesting and unusual surname is of Old Scandinavian origin, and is one of the few names which has retained its original spelling since it was first recorded. The surname derives from either the Olde Norse personal name "Hakun", meaning "high race, one of noble birth", or the Old Norse personal name "Hakon", originally a nickname meaning "handy or useful". The surname is also found as Hakonsen (Denmark and Norway), and Hakonsson (Sweden), which are patronymics. The personal name is recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Hacun, Hacon", while one Hacon de Crokestun is mentioned in the "Documents illustrative of the Social and Economic History of the Danelaw" in Lincolnshire, in 1160. According to one source "Hacon the Good and Hacon the Broadshouldered occur among the kings of Norway". One Semann Hacon is mentioned in the Hundred Rolls of Suffolk in 1275, and John Hakon was recorded as bailiff of Yarmouth, in 1395. A Coat of Arms depicting two silver and green bars vaire, in chief a gold falcon close, between two bezants, was granted to Hacon families at Ipswich and Whiteacre in Norfolk on June 2nd 1536. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Hacon, which was dated 1221, in the "Assize Court Rolls of Salop", during the reign of King Henry 111, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.