Hayes

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A family name borne by various people, most famously a nineteenth-century American president ; a town or district name used for several places, including one in west London
2. A surname shared by many individuals, such as the American president Rutherford B. Hayes ; the name of a locality, notably a suburb of west London
3. A common family name carried by numerous people over the years ; also the name of towns and districts, among them a well-known area in the London Borough of Hillingdon

Etymology: The surname is the plural of "haye," an old Dutch and West Flemish word for shark, so the name's grammatical form points to a fish. "Haye" comes from Dutch "haai" or West Flemish "haaie" (earlier "haeye"), which were borrowed from Old Norse "hái," a short form of "hákarl," literally "shark-man." The Old Norse compound pairs "há-," a term for fish of the shark kind, with "karl," meaning "man." German "Hai," Swedish "haj," and Danish "haj" all share this same Norse source.