This interesting name has two possible origins, the first of which is from the medieval given name "Haw", itself a diminutive or pet-form of another given name such as "Hawkin" or "Havekin", from the Olde English pre 7th Century "Hafoc". The second source is from a female personal name introduced by the Normans, "Haueis", which is from the Germanic form "Haduwidis" composed of the elements "Hadu", meaning strife or contention and "widi", wide. As a personal name this is first recorded as "Hawis", in the Curia Rolls of Suffolk, 1208. The surname is found as Hawes or Hawyes in the modern idiom, these being the patronymic (descended from the father's name) and metronymic (from the mother) forms. One "Reginoll Hawes" was an early emigrant to America, leaving London in January 1634 for Virginia. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Hawyse. which was dated 1279, in the Oxfordshire Hundred Rolls. 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.

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