Hauxwell

This unusual and interesting name is Anglo-Saxon in origin, and can be either a locational or topographical surname. If locational, it derives from the place called "Hauxwell" in North Yorkshire, which is first recorded in the Domesday Book of 1086 as "Hauocheswelle". The placename means either "Hafoc's spring or well" or "the hawk's spring", derived from the Olde English pre 7th Century personal name "H(e)afoc", meaning "hawk", from some resemblance to the bird, or "heafoc", the hawk, with "wealla", a spring, stream or brook. As a topographical surname, the meaning is "dweller by the hawk's well or spring". Topographical surnames were among the earliest created, since both natural and man-made features in the landscape provided easily recognisable distinguishing names in the small communities of the Middle Ages. The modern surname can be found as Hauxwell, Hawkswell and Hockswell, and the later forms, where the "s" has been dropped, Hackwell, Hakewell and Hockwell. John Hauxwell married Margaret Bostus at Bedale, in Yorkshire, on January 29th 1589. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Peter de Haukeswell, which was dated 1272, in the "Book of Fees of Kent", during the reign of King Edward 1, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", 1272 - 1307. 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.