Origin of the Name Hayward
The ancient history of the name
Hayward was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. Meaning 'the hayward', this is an official name from a keeper of cattle. There were two kinds of Hayward, one to keep look over the cattle and the other who looked after the Lord of the manor. Variants include Heyward and Haward. This name is of Anglo-Saxon descent spreading to the Celtic countries of Ireland , Scotland , and Wales in early times and is found in many mediaeval manuscripts throughout the above islands. Examples of such are an Adam le Hayward, from County Devon, who was recorded in the 'Hundred Rolls', in the Year 1273, and a Thomas Richard Hayward who was baptised at Saint James Clerkenwell, England , in the Year 1615.
In Ireland this name and its variants were introduced into Ulster Province by settlers who arrived from England and Scotland , especially during the seventeenth century. It was the 'Plantations of Ireland ' in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that marked the end of Gaelic supremacy in Ireland . While the influx of settlers in the wake of the earlier Anglo-Norman invasion of the twelfth century resulted in a full integration into Irish society of the new arrivals, the same never occurred with the Ulster Planters who maintained their own distinct identity.
The Hayward coat of arms came into existence centuries ago. The process of creating coats of arms (also often called family crests) began in the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this. The new art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own coat of arms, including all Hayward descendants.