Hafen History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Hafen is a name whose history is connected to the ancient Anglo-Saxon tribes of Britain. The name is derived from when the Hafen family once lived in the village of Haffenden in the south-eastern counties of Kent, around Canterbury, Cranbrook, Homewood, and Smarden, around Wadhurst in the county of Sussex. 1

Early Origins of the Hafen family

The surname Hafen was first found in Kent where they held a family seat as Lords of the manor at Tenterden and Smarden and at Halden Bugglesden in the north part of Boresile borough. The exact locality of the ancient domain remains obscure. 2

"The gentry family derive from Lawrence Haffenden, of Bugglesden, bailiff of Tenterden, temp. Richard III. This is sufficient proof of the origin of the race among the dens of Kent, even if we did not know that they formerly had lands at Smarden and Halden. It is worth recording, that a younger branch of this family, the representative of which branch was lately the keeper of a small country inn at Heathfield, co. Sussex, have, for a series of generations, had right of sepulture in Heathfield church, where numerous gravestones mark their claim to ancient gentry." 3

Early History of the Hafen family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Hafen research. Another 83 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1861 and 1874 are included under the topic Early Hafen History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Hafen Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Hafen family name include Hafenden, Haffenden, Havenden and others.

Early Notables of the Hafen family

Another 25 words (2 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Hafen Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Hafen migration to the United States +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Hafen surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Hafen Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

Willem Hafen, who arrived in New York in 1709 4

Citations +

Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)