Family name origins & meanings
- German and Dutch : from Middle High German hech(e)t, Middle Dutch heect, hecht ‘pike’, generally a nickname for a rapacious and greedy person. In some instances it may have been a metonymic occupational name for a fisher and in others it may be a habitational name from a house distinguished by a sign depicting this fish.
- Jewish (Ashkenazic) : ornamental name from German Hecht or Yiddish hekht ‘pike’, one of the many Ashkenazic ornamental names taken from vocabulary words denoting wildlife.