Frequency: (8091)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. Dutch and North German: from a Germanic personal name composed of hag ‘hedge’, ‘enclosure’ + hari, heri ‘army’.
2. from a Germanic personal name, Hadugar, composed of the elements hadu- ‘combat’, ‘strife’ + gari, from garwa ‘ready’, ‘eager’.
3. German (also Häger): topographic name for someone who lived by a hedged or fenced enclosure, Middle High German hac.
4. German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): nickname for a thin man, from Middle High German, German hager ‘thin’, ‘gaunt’.
5. English: occupational name for a woodcutter, from an agent derivative of Middle English haggen ‘to cut or chop’.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
