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Hayes is a common English language surname. In the United States Census, 1990, Hayes was the 100th most common surname recorded.^[1] The oldest record of the surname dates to 1197 in the Eynsham Cartulary of Oxfordshire, where it appears on the form Heise.^[2][3][4] The name, with its many spelling variations, has 19 Coats of Arms.^[2] Though primarily a surname, "Hayes" rarely appears as a given name in census records.^[5]

Origin

In Great Britain, Hayes arose as a locational surname, associated with one of the several places named "Hayes", such as locations in Kent, Middlesex, Devon and Dorset. Such place names had two origins, one based on the Old English haes (brushwood, underwood) and the other based on horg (enclosure) or hege (hedge).^[2] The distribution of Hayes in Great Britain in 1881 and 1998 is similar and restricted to areas of England well separated from Scotland and showing some penetration into Wales.^[5] This surname has gained in popularity in the century between 1881 and 1998, but remains at a rank of <150 and a frequency lower than that in the United States and some other countries of the Commonwealth.^[5]

In Scotland, Hayes is a Scoto-Norman surname, a direct translation of the Normans' locational surname "de la Haye", meaning "of La Haye", La Haye ("the hedge") being the name of several towns on the Cotentin peninsula of Normandy, France. The first Norman namebearer to arrive in Scotland was William II de la Haye in the time of the Norman invasion. Clan Hay descends from him.^[6]

In Ireland, Hayes originated as a Gaelic polygenetic surname "O hAodha", meaning descendant of Aodh ("fire"), or of Aed, an Irish mythological god. Septs in most counties anglicised "O hAodha" to "Hayes". In County Cork, it became "O'Hea". In County Ulster, it became "Hughes", the patronymic of Hugh, an anglicized variant of the given name Aodh. Hayes is noted on a public record in County Wexford as early as 1182. In County Cork, under the Munster providence, Hayes falls under the banner of the McNamara clan in the Dalcassian Sept. The Hayes clan is also been known to hail allegiance to Clan Cian, the ruling O'Carroll clan, of southern Ireland.^[6][7][8]

Notable people sharing the Hayes surname

Listed here are people who share the 'Hayes' surname, organized by birth year, to assist in assembling a view of the geographic distribution of this surname over time.

Additional notable people

unknown nationality; unknown year of birth

• Brian Hayes (scientist)
• Richard Hayes, Academic in the areas of Buddhist philosophy and Sanskrit

Fictional characters sharing the Hayes surname

• Ainsley Hayes, fictional American character in the American television series The West Wing
• Ben Hayes, character (undetermined nationality) in the 2005 American film remake of King Kong
• Blake Hayes, fictional character in the American television soap opera The Bold and the Beautiful
• Logan Hayes, fictional character in the American television Award Winning Soap Opera General Hospital
• Willie Mays Hayes, fictional character in the films Major League and Major League II

Notes

References

See also

Disambiguation pages

• Billy HayesBrian Hayes
• Chris Hayes
• David Hayes
• Frank Hayes
• Jeremy HayesJohn Hayes
• Mark HayesMichael Hayes
• Richard Hayes (disambiguation)
• Sean HayesStephen Hayes (disambiguation)
• Thomas Hayes
• William Hayes
• Hays (disambiguation)