Origin
Hawks : English (Kent and London):: 1: variant of Hawk with excrescent -s a development very common in the Midlands.2: variant of Hawkins with partial ellipsis of the final syllable.
Adorno : Italian:: 1: (Genoa): from the personal name Adorno meaning ‘adorned’. This surname is also established in Brazil Paraguay Argentina Mexico and Puerto Rico.2: (southern): from the dialect (Sicilian Calabrese) word adorno adornu denoting a type of hawk presumably applied as a nickname for someone with hawklike features or a metonymic occupational name for someone who trained hawks.
Bird : 1: English and Scottish: nickname for a young or a small and slender person from Middle English brid bird burd (Old English bird brid perhaps also byrd) ‘bird young bird’ also ‘young man young woman child’.2: Irish: Anglicized form of a number of Irish names erroneously thought to contain the element éan ‘bird’ in particular Ó hÉinigh (see Heagney) Ó hÉanna (see Heaney) Ó hÉanacháin (see Heneghan) and Mac an Déaghanaigh (see McEneaney).3: Americanized form (translation into English) of various European surnames meaning ‘bird’ as for example German and Jewish (Ashkenazic) Vogel French Loiseau Czech Ptáček (see Ptacek) and Pták Polish Ptak.4: Native American: translation into English (and shortening) of a personal name based on a word such as Lakota Sioux ziŋtkala meaning ‘bird’. The importance of the birds particularly eagles (see Eagle 4) and hawks (see Hawk 4) to Native Americans is reflected in their traditional personal names many of which were adopted as surnames (translated into English) e.g. Black Bird (see Blackbird) King Bird (see Kingbird) and Red Bird (see Redbird).
Fail : 1: Scottish and Irish: shortened form of McPhail.2: Scottish: habitational name from Fail in Ayrshire.3: Manx: variant of Fayle from Mac Giolla Phoil ‘son of Paul's servant’.4: South German: metonymic occupational name for a retail dealer who hawks his ware for a huckster from Middle High German feil ‘for sale purchasable’.
Habig : German: from Middle High German habech ‘hawk’ hence a nickname for a sharp sighted person or for someone who was thought to resemble the bird in some other way or a metonymic occupational name for someone who trained hawks for hunting (see Hawk).
Habiger : German: occupational name for someone who trained hawks for hunting from Middle High German habich ‘hawk’ + the agent suffix -er.
Hawk : 1: 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).2: English: topographic name for a ‘(dweller in) the nook or corner’ from Middle English halke (derived from Old English halh + the diminutive suffix -oc).3: 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. 1250.4: 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 4.5: Americanized form of German Hauck or Haug.
Hawker : English (western England): occupational name for someone who trained hawks or engaged in the sport of hawking from Middle English hauker ‘falconer hawker’ (Old English hafocere). Hawking was a major medieval sport and the provision and training of hawks for a feudal lord was not an uncommon obligation in lieu of rent. The right of any free man to keep hawks for his own use was conceded in Magna Carta though social status determined what kind of bird someone could keep the kestrel being the lowest grade.
Mew : 1: English: nickname from Middle English mew ‘seagull’ (Old English mǣw mēaw). Compare Maw 3.2: English (of Norman origin): metonymic occupational name or nickname from Old French mue ‘mew’ possibly denoting someone employed at a mew i.e. a cage or set of cages for hawks.3: Chinese: variant Romanization of the surnames 苗 and 繆 (see Miao 1 and 2).
Mure : 1: Italian (Sicily): variant of Morea.2: Scottish: variant of Muir.3: English: occupational name from Old French muer ‘mewer’ i.e. someone who tended to hawks in the cages in which they were kept while moulting. Compare Mew.4: French: topographic name from mure ‘ruined wall(s)’ from mur ‘wall’ Latin murus or a habitational name from any of the places called La Mure in Alpes-de-Haute-Provence Isère Rhône and Puy-de-Dôme.
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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
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