Family name origins & meanings
- North German : metonymic occupational name for a grower of or dealer in oats, from Low German Haver ‘oats’. Compare Hafer, Haber.
- Dutch : of uncertain derivation; possibly a Brabantine form of de Hauwer, an occupational name for a wood or stone cutter, Middle Dutch hauwer(e) ‘cutter’, ‘hewer’.
- English : from Middle English haver ‘oats’, applied as a metonymic occupational name for a farmer who grew oats or for a grain merchant.
- English : possibly a nickname from Middle English haver ‘buck’, ‘billy-goat’.