In her three volume work on the Battle Abbey Roll, the Duchess of Cleveland says of the surname Delahoid, or de la Hyde, “I much doubt whether this name has any right to be here, as it sounds to me a local English one, and I can discover nothing that even remotely resembles it in Normandy.”

 

While the surname “Hyde” is thought to be uniquely British, its origins are quite diverse. Hyde and its variants can be found scattered throughout medieval Europe, with small concentrations in parts of what are now France, Alsace, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands.   

 

The surname is topographical. In medieval records, a “hide” described a measure of land which could be farmed with one plough or support one family. This was used primarily as a unit of assessment, not only for taxation, but also for the purpose of determining the number of men required for military service. The measure evolved over time and varied according to the quality of the cleared land and the military requirements imposed on the manor lords in a given area, anywhere from about 40 to 120 acres. Its consistent use as a surname in England began in the 13th century, to describe both holders and dwellers on approximately fourteen distinctive properties in England and Ireland.

Old English derived from the West Germanic dialects spoken by Angles, Saxons and other Teutonic tribes who invaded and occupied England in the fifth and sixth centuries. The word “hide” has distinct roots in the proto-Germanic language base: Old Frisian: hēthe West Frisian: heide, Old High German: heida, Middle High German: heide, Middle Low German: hēide, German: Heide, Old Dutch: heitha, Middle Dutch: heyde, heide, Dutch: heide, hei, and Old Norse: heiðr.