Hetfield History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

Etymology of Hetfield

What does the name Hetfield mean?

Hetfield is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in either of the places called Heathfield in Somerset or Sussex, or in one of the various settlements called Hatfield in Essex, Herefordshire, Nottinghamshire, Worcester, the East Riding of Yorkshire, or the North Riding of Yorkshire.

The place name literally means "heathy open land, or open land where heather grows," from the Old English "haeth" + "feld." The earliest village or parish with the name was registered in Saxon times in South Yorkshire in 731 when it was known as Haethfelth. 1

One source claims the name was derived from "hat, hot, Saxon, and field-from the hot sandy soil" 2 and yet another claims the name was derived from the "Anglo-Saxon Hæðfeld = the Heath-Field." 3

Another source claims the name was derived from the Old English "heathland, heather + feld" (pasture, open country) 4

Early Origins of the Hetfield family

The surname Hetfield was first found in Colchester, Essex where William de Hatfield was listed there 1119-1127. 5 The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 list William de Hatfield in Essex and Agnes de Hatfield in Cambridgeshire at that time. Years later, Johannes de Haytefeld was listed in the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379. 6

Robert de Hattefeld was listed in the Feet of Fines for Yorkshire in 1343 and Thomas Hatfeld was listed in the Assize Rolls of London in 1412. 5

Thomas of Hatfield (d. 1381), was Bishop of Durham, and thought to have been the second son of Walter of Hatfield in Holderness. He seems to have entered the king's service at an early age, and was Keeper of the Privy Seal in 1343. 7

Early History of the Hetfield family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Hetfield research. Another 78 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1119, 1640 and 1652 are included under the topic Early Hetfield History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Hetfield 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 Hetfield family name include Hatfield, Hatfeild, Hadfield, Hopfield and others.

Early Notables of the Hetfield family

Notables of this surname at this time include: Martha Hatfield (fl. 1652), 'The Wise Virgin,' daughter of Anthony Hatfield, by his wife Faith Westley, was born at Leighton, Yorkshire, 27 Sept. 1640. "The Hatfields were Puritans. In April 1652 Martha was seized with an illness which the physicians were unable to define, but which seems to have been a form of catalepsy. For seventeen days she lay stiff and was unable to speak, and it was said...
Another 76 words (5 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Hetfield Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Hetfield family to Ireland

Some of the Hetfield family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt. More information about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Hetfield family

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 Hetfield surname or a spelling variation of the name include: George Hadfield who settled in New England in 1802; James, John, Robert and Thomas Hadfield arrived in Philadelphia between 1820 and 1860; Thomas and Grace Hatfeild settled in Virginia in 1653.

Contemporary Notables of the name Hetfield (post 1700) +

James Alan Hetfield (b. 1963), main songwriter, lead vocalist, rhythm guitarist and a founding member of the American thrash/heavy metal band Metallica
Walter L. III Hetfield, American Republican politician, Alternate Delegate to Republican National Convention from New Jersey, 1940 8

Citations +

Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Arthur, William , An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. London: 1857. Print
Harrison, Henry, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary Baltimore: Geneological Publishing Company, 2013. Print
Hanks, Patricia and Flavia Hodges, A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. Print. (ISBN 0-19-211592-8)
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Smith, George (ed), Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1885-1900. Print
The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2016, January 12) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html