Hefford Family History

The name is a variant of Hayford. This is sometimes a dialect pronunciation of Hawford or Hawforth (see Halford and Alford) as suggested by William Hefford.

Historical records show instances such as Elizab Hawford in 1617 from IGI in Peatling Magna, Leics; Robert Heyford in 1627; Nathaniel Halford in 1629; Samuell Heferd in 1675; and Ann Heford in 1733, all recorded in IGI, specifically from Husbands Bosworth, Leics.

Further evidence includes Nathaniel Halford in 1702, John Hawford in 1706, and John Heffer in 1719, as noted in IGI from Wellingborough, Northants.

The variation in the vowel pronunciation would have arisen from the common phonetic change of -aw- to -ay-, which later simplified to -e-.