Surname Etymology

The surname Hatting (also seen as Hätting, Hattinge, Hattingen) has Scandinavian origins, most likely from Sweden or Denmark. It is not a modern invention but belongs to a much older layer of Nordic naming—when families were identified not by occupations or farms, but by ancestral traits and symbolic bynames.

The -ing Ending: A Mark of Descent

In Old Norse and early Germanic names, the suffix -ing / -ingr means:

“descendant of” or “belonging to the people of”

We see it in famous dynasties:

Ynglingar — descendants of Yngvi-Freyr
Skjöldungar — descendants of King Skjöldr
Völsungar — descendants of Völsungr

Thus, the root of Hatting must be found in “Hatt / Hätt / Hottr” — the name or epithet of an early ancestor.

Possible Origins of Hatt / Hätt / Hǫttr

In Old Norse, hǫttr means “hood” or “cowl.” Such a name likely began as a byname, perhaps for someone who kept to themselves, concealed their thoughts, or wore a hood as a mark of character. Some early saga figures bore this name, such as the youth Hǫttr who appeared fearful but later proved his courage. A family calling itself Hatting may once have been known as “the kin of the Hooded One.”

Beyond the literal, the hood carries weight in Norse myth. Óðinn himself often wandered the world in disguise, cloaked and unrecognized, using names such as Grímnir, which means “the hooded” or “the masked one.” In this sense, Hatting may echo not just a hidden ancestor, but a lineage symbolically linked to the wandering god—an acknowledgment of those who move through the world quietly, guided by fate rather than fame.

Whether rooted in a real forebear or drawn from something older, Hatting is a name with silence in it, a name born not from occupation or land, but from aura. It remembers someone who was unseen, hooded, but not forgotten.

A Symbolic Rather Than Simple Origin

Unlike surnames such as Smith or Baker, Hatting does not come from an occupation. In Scandinavian tradition, a “hat” or “hood” was more than an item of clothing—it could signify:
- Secrecy or Mystery

- A Wanderer or Outcast
- A Sage or Hooded Figure

In Norse myth, Óðinn himself often wandered the world hooded and disguised, under names like Grímnir (“The Hooded One”). Some families may have adopted such a title as a poetic or spiritual lineage.

A “Hatting” could originally have meant:

“We are of the Hooded Ancestor” — either a literal forefather… or a mythic one.

Place-Name Clues

Several Scandinavian places also bear the name Hatting or Hattingen, especially in Denmark:

Hatting, a village in Jutland
Hattingen, found in medieval registers

Often, surnames formed when families took their name from their ancestral settlement. Thus, Hatting may also refer to “those from Hatting/Hättinge,” a place first named after a person called Hǫttr or Hatt.

Conclusion: Three Layers of Meaning

Whether the Hattings were humble farmers or quiet wanderers, the name reaches back to the days when identity was forged by character—by the storm one survived or the fate one carried—not merely by trade or title.

Hatting is a name that whispers of mystery.  Of one who walked hooded, unseen, but remembered.