Each family connects hundreds of people to form an intricate pattern of ancestors and descendants. Our origins span the world, our families come from all religions and ways of life. The common thread of Heraldry links many cultures and establishes the foundations of a Surname before words were a common understanding and images demonstrated a basic understanding to the populace.
This page represents the following Surnames: Hitchcock. Hedgecoe. Hedgecock.
Heraldry for every family is represented on each page as it has become available through out our research, as a tribute to the historical and evolutionary process that each family has survived. Name definitions are provided for each family as we find a connection to them, through intermarriage or discovery. Scottish, English and Irish families are represented with tartans, badges and other memorabilia as it becomes available to us. We’ve worked very hard at finding the most accurate and appropriate connections for each surname, if you see an error or have more information to add, please contact us via e-mail at CSGS@SnowStones.com.
Hitchcock
From the medieval personal name Hickock, from Hick, a medieval personal name Hicke, a pet-form of Richard. With the suffix – cock (Literally ‘cockerel’ hence ‘jaunty or bumptious young man’) that was often added to create pet-forms of personal names in the Middle Ages.
Also associated with Higgins, Higgs, Hitch, Hitchins, Icke, Haycock, Hiscock, and Hickok.
Hitchcock Name Meaning and History
English (mainly southern): from a pet form of Hick, with the Middle English diminutive suffix -cok.
Hick Name Meaning and History
English: from the medieval personal name Hicke, a pet form of Richard. The substitution of H- as the initial resulted from the inability of the English to cope with the velar Norman R-.
Dutch: from a pet form of a Germanic personal name, such as Icco or Hikke (a Frisian derivative of a compound name with the first element hild ‘strife’, ‘battle’).
East German: from a derivative of a Slavic pet form of Heinrich.
South German: from Hiko, a pet form of any of the Germanic personal names formed with hild ‘strife’, ‘battle’ as the first element.
Heinrich Name Meaning and History
German and Jewish (Ashkenazic): from personal name Heinrich, composed of the Germanic elements haim, heim ‘home’ + ric ‘power’. In the Middle Ages this was the most popular of personal names in Germany. See also Henry.
Henry Name Meaning and History
English and French: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements haim, heim ‘home’ + ric ‘power’, ‘ruler’, introduced to England by the Normans in the form Henri. During the Middle Ages this name became enormously popular in England and was borne by eight kings. Continental forms of the personal name were equally popular throughout Europe (German Heinrich, French Henri, Italian Enrico and Arrigo, Czech Jindrich, etc. As an American family name, the English form Henry has absorbed patronymics and many other derivatives of this ancient name in continental European languages. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988.) In the period in which the majority of English surnames were formed, a common English vernacular form of the name was Harry, hence the surnames Harris (southern) and Harrison (northern). Official documents of the period normally used the Latinized form Henricus. In medieval times, English Henry absorbed an originally distinct Old English personal name that had hagan ‘hawthorn’. Compare Hain 2 as its first element, and there has also been confusion with Amery.
Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó hInnéirghe ‘descendant of Innéirghe’, a byname based on éirghe ‘arising’.
Irish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Éinrí or Mac Einri, patronymics from the personal names Éinrí, Einri, Irish forms of Henry. It is also found as a variant of McEnery.
Jewish (American): Americanized form of various like-sounding Ashkenazic Jewish names.
Richard Name Meaning and History
English, French, German, and Dutch: from a Germanic personal name composed of the elements ric ‘power(ful)’ + hard ‘hardy’, ‘brave’, ‘strong’.
Family Crest: 
Surname References from:
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
Encyclopedia of Surnames, John Ayto, A & C Black Publishers Ltd, ISBN 978 0 7136 8144 4
(Unless otherwise stated)