Family name origins & meanings
- Altered spelling of French Heurtebise, which may be a topographic name for someone living in an exposed situation, buffeted by the north wind, from Old French hurte(r) ‘to collide, knock against’ + bise ‘north wind’, both these elements being of Germanic origin; a related place name is Heurtevent in Calvados. It is also possible that it may have been a humorous nickname for someone with a prominent nose.
- A bearer of this name from the Maine region of France is documented in Montreal in 1660; the name is recorded as both Hurtubise and Heurtebise.