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HARE Family History

Recorded as Hare, Hair, and the much rarer Hares, this Anglo-Scottish and sometimes Irish surname has a number of possible origins. The most likely is as a derivation from the Olde English pre 7th Century word, "hara", meaning a hare, and hence a medieval nickname either for a fast runner, or given the robust humour of the Chaucerian period, the complete opposite! The name can also be topographical from the Olde English word "haer", meaning stony ground, and as such described somebody who lived at such a place. It can also be a development from the Irish (Gaelic) name "O' hAichir", the modern O'Hare meaning the descendant of "Aichear", a personal name translating as sharp or fierce...