Howden

Boy name variations

Family name origins & meanings

• Scottish : habitational name from a place so called near Kelso on the border with England. Early forms include Hadden, Hauden, and Halden; the place name is probably from Old English halh ‘nook’, ‘recess’ + denu ‘valley’.
• English : habitational name from a place in East Yorkshire, so named from Old Norse hǫfuð ‘head’ (replacing Old English hēafod) + Old English denu ‘valley’; the first element may have been used in the sense ‘principal’, ‘top’, or ‘end’.
• Americanized form of Norwegian Hovden.