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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
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
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.
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.
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.
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: