Hekkert

This is a patronymic form of the Olde German descriptive surname "Hacker or Hecker", meaning a woodcutter or butcher. It is possible in this case, that the Continent "borrowed" the origin from the Olde English pre 7th Century "Haccian" as the ancient records show the use of the description in Somerset, England before other areas. The modern spellings are of relatively recent date, although the Huguenot "Hiquert" appears in 1690, "Heaquert" in 1710 and John and Mary Heckert in the Register of the French-Huguenot Church, Threadneedle Street, London on May 6th 1733. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Pierre Hakart, which was dated 1653, christened at Threadneedle Street, London, during the reign of Oliver Cromwell, "The Lord Protector", 1650 - 1658. 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.