Hatzis Family History

Greek: variant of Chatzis from the vocabulary word chatzis ‘pilgrim (to Jerusalem)’ from Arabic ḥajjī ‘hadji’ (i.e. ‘pilgrim to Mecca’). Having completed a pilgrimage to the Holy Land was a mark of high social distinction.

Often this surname is an American shortened form of a surname with Hatzi- as a prefix to a patronymic naming the ancestor who performed the pilgrimage;

e.g. Hatzimarkou ‘son of Mark the Pilgrim’ Hatzioannou ‘son of John the Pilgrim’.