Hi Folks.
I have learned a great deal already about my family surname, Hatfield (look in Hertfordshire), but every answer has led to multiple questions.
One thing I have learned is that the name Hatfield is much older than I was led to believe. The areas referred to as Hatfield (Haethfeld) in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle in 633 and 680 are likely in Yorkshire, and are very likely not in Hertfordshire.
As with many Americans, I assumed that tracing my ancestors upstream would lead to a solitary well. That has proven unlikely, after learning of the older area in Yorkshire, and as there are presently no Hatfields living in Hatfield, Hertfordshire, the area many American Hatfields mistakenly believe their wellspring. A search of Hatfields in UK telephone directories yields almost exactly 1,000 residential listings. Of those, there are fewer than 25 listed in greater London, but nearly 50 in both Leeds and York, with nearly as many in Nottingham. Clearly, the town of Hatfield, Hertfordshire is not the source of the surname.
But where did it begin then? If the very name Hatfield is the evolution of a Norman pronounciation of Hetfelle, the Saxon Haethfeld, then one could conclude that the town, village, manor, or area of Hatfield, Hertfordshire was already there in 970 when King Edgar re-founded the Abbey of Ely, and "gave Hatfield, along with the other estates of the area, to the monks". It might be further concluded that the post-Roman people who settled there were Saxon.
The big mystery to me then is, of the many surnames listed in the Domesday Book of 1086 from the area that is now Hatfield, Hertfordshire, why is there no mention of Hetfelle or Haethfeld? If people who were living there didn't adopt the place they were living as a surname, then who did?
Who were the people who first chose Hatfield as a surname? If anyone has researched place names, please help me understand their origin. Why, for example, might a person living in medieval Nottingham adopt the surname Hatfield?
Thanks much,
Tim Hatfield.
