Family name origins & meanings
- English and Scottish : nickname or occupational name for someone who hunted hares, or who was thought to resemble a breed of dog used in hunting hares.
- English and Scottish : nickname for someone thought to resemble a harrier, a kind of hawk, Middle English harrower.
- English and Scottish : nickname for a raider or plunderer, from an agent noun derived from Middle English herian, Old English her(g)ian ‘to harry’, ‘plunder’, ‘ravage’.