Havenhand

This is one of the rarest and most unusual names. It is of medieval origins and is one of the increasingly rare descriptive names which included "havadent" somebody who was the possessor of "one Tooth", "havegolt" which translates as "one who lived at the Cott(age)" and "Havegat" a dweller by the gate. In the case of Havenhand there are two possible origins, the first being that it is a transposition from "Haveland" or "Havenland", from the Olde English "Haefer" and meaning "The Grazing lands" or from the extraordinary "Havelhandle", itself a transposition from Haveland, a name which has Dutch-German origins associated with the 13th Century, Fenland drainage. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Cecilia Havelhandle, which was dated 1541, married John Harward in London, during the reign of King Henry VIII, "Good King Hal", 1510 - 1548. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.