Show ContentsHockney History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Hockney is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in Hackney, a place-name from Middlesex. The exact location of Hackney is in what is now Greater London. The place-name is derived from the Old English personal name Haca, and the suffix eg, which meant "island or dry ground in a marsh." The place-name was rendered as Hakaneia in 1198, and is Hackney today. [1]

Early Origins of the Hockney family

The surname Hockney was first found in the county of Middlesex, at Hackney, a parish, forming a union with StokeNewington. [2] [3] " It was among the earliest of the adjacent villages inhabited by the more opulent merchants of London; and from its having been the first of those retreats provided with regular conveyances to the city, it is erroneously supposed to have given name to the coaches which ply in the streets of the metropolis, and in the principal towns in the kingdom." [4]

As one would expect, early rolls included London records. The Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 included: Benedict de Hakeneye; and Robert de Hakeneye, both of London. Later in northern England, the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 listed Adam de Hakenay. [5]

Later the Subsidy Rolls for Essex included an entry for John Hakeney in 1327 and another entry for him in Colchester in 1329. William Mopps Hakenyman was listed at Pinchbeck, Suffolk in 1327. [6]

In Scotland, "Adam called Hakenay had a charter of lands in Ayr, 1316. Johannes Kahew alias Haknay, [was] burgess of Edinburgh, 1467." [7]

Early History of the Hockney family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Hockney research. Another 88 words (6 lines of text) covering the years 1273, 1316, 1327, 1783 and 1800 are included under the topic Early Hockney History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Hockney 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 Hockney family name include Hackney, Hackny, Hackeney, Hackneyman and others.

Early Notables of the Hockney family

More information is included under the topic Early Hockney Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.


United States Hockney 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 Hockney surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Hockney Settlers in United States in the 19th Century
  • Albert Hockney, who landed in Iowa in 1885 [8]

Australia Hockney migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Hockney Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century
  • Robert Sallet Hockney, aged 33, a labourer, who arrived in South Australia in 1853 aboard the ship "Olivia" [9]

Contemporary Notables of the name Hockney (post 1700) +

  • David Hockney OM, CH, RA (b. 1937), English painter, draftsman, printmaker, stage designer and photographer, born in Bradford, England, an important contributor to the pop art movement of the 1960s; in 2018, his painting Portrait of an Artist (Pool with Two Figures) sold for a world record for a living artist-$90 million
  • R.W. Hockney, British researcher in the filed of computer simulations at the University of Reading; he is credited with over 72 publications
  • Nicholas Richard Alexander Damian Hockney, British former politician, Member of the London Assembly as the 9th Additional Member (2004-2008)

HMS Prince of Wales
  • Mr. Kenneth Hockney, British Marine, who sailed into battle on the HMS Prince of Wales (1941) and died in the sinking [10]


  1. Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
  2. Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. Print.
  3. Barber, Henry, British Family Names London: Elliot Stock, 62 Paternoster Row, 1894. Print.
  4. Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
  5. Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
  6. Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
  7. Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
  8. 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)
  9. South Australian Register Tuesday 15 November 1853. (Retrieved 2010, November 5) Olivia 1857. Retrieved http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/australia/olivia1853.shtml
  10. HMS Prince of Wales Crew members. (Retrieved 2014, April 9) . Retrieved from http://www.forcez-survivors.org.uk/biographies/listprincecrew.html


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