Hathaway Family History

English (mainly central southern England and South Wales): topographic name for someone who lived by a path across a heath, from Middle English hathe ‘heath’ + weye ‘way’. from an (apparently rare) Old English female personal name, Heaðuwig, composed of the elements heaðu ‘strife’, ‘contention’ + wig ‘war’.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press