Hawk Family History

English: nickname from Middle English havoc havek hauk ‘hawk or falcon’ (Old English hafoc). It may have been given to a professional falconer, to someone of a savage or cruel disposition, or to someone who held land by providing hawks for his lord, as in an instance from 1130 where Ralph Hauoc owed the royal Exchequer two ‘girfals’ (i.e. gyrfalcons or hawks).

English: topographic name for a ‘(dweller in) the nook or corner’ from Middle English halke (derived from Old English halh + the diminutive suffix -oc). English: possibly also a survival into Middle English of the Old English personal name Hafoc, which was originally a nickname from the word ‘hawk, falcon’. It seems to have died out of use as a personal name by c. 1250.

Native American: translation into English (and shortening) of a personal name based on a word such as Lakota or Dakota Sioux četaŋ meaning ‘hawk’. The importance of the hawk to Native Americans is reflected in their traditional personal names, many of which were adopted as surnames (translated into English), e.g. Black Hawk (see Blackhawk), Iron Hawk (see Ironhawk), and Thunder Hawk (see Thunderhawk).

See also Bird, Americanized form of German Hauck or Haug.