The Haywood One-Name Study grew out of the dawning realisation that there were other Haywoods in the world who were involved in other occupations.  My own Haywood namebearers were potters in Devon and Cornwall, England, and I developed a personal goal of searching for a common ancestor between them and the Burslem Haywoods in the Staffordshire Potteries.  I found other Haywoods who were nonconformist preachers, merchants, bankers, and baronets.

The registered variant of Heawood is not the only spelling I have encountered.  Heywood, Hayward, Heyward - and even Howard - have appeared.

Anglo-Saxon in origin, this name comes from "hege" (meaning hedge or fence) and "weard" (meaning watch or guardian).  The hege-weard was the person who checked the fences and walls to see if they needed repair, and deterred poachers from the royal hunting parks and cattle from breaking through and destroying crops.

Great and Little Haywood (Staffordshire, England) appear in the Domesday Book of 1086, and Haiwod appears during the reign of King Richard I ('The Lionheart').  The name continues to develop and be recorded in the Poll Tax returns in the 14th century, while William Heyward or Howard was the Sheriff of Norwich in 1657.  A Haywood arrested Guy Fawkes in the cellars, and Thomas Hayward and Peter Heywood were midshipmen on the HMS Bounty.

Early Namebearers were:

• Anselm de Haiwod, about 1199 in Saint Thomas Priory Chartulary (Staffs)
• Adam de Heyuuode, 1246 in Assize Rolls (Lancs)
• Arnold de Hewode, 1275 in Hundred Rolls (Wilts)
• Johanna de Haywode, 1379 in Poll Tax (Appleby Parva, Leics)
• John Heywode, 1471 in Feet of Fines (Lincs)
• Oliverus Heawood, 1597 in Parish Registers (Barrow, Cheshire)
• Radulpho Hayword, 1379 in Poll Tax (Thornton, Leics)
• Robert Haywood, 1614 in Parish Registers (Saint Lawrence, Godmersham, Kent)
• Robertus Haiwod, 1381 in Poll Tax (Queniborough, Leics)

Haywood is a locational surname, appearing most frequently in the north of England: Herefordshire, Nottinghamshire, Shropshire, Staffordshire, Yorkshire, and Lancashire.  It also appears in other parts of the country.  Haywoods can also be found in Tennessee and Carolina, USA; in Newfoundland, Canada; in the Isle of Man; Barbados, and possibly Tahiti.