Correct spelling for Hawk_n?

Is it Hawkin or Hawken?

Just wondering for a friend

It's spelled with an e.

The Miner '49er said:

It's spelled with an e.

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Yep, Harken.

Actually if you go by the original family name it was Hachen

“Hawken” was the name used by brothers Jacob and Samuel, and that was the surname they stamped on their barrels. See the photo posted by brother @Arrowhead_92 in post #4.

However, if you read the literature of the period, just about everybody who mentioned these rifles in print back then called them “Hawkins.” Some of those writers, such as Brewerton, Marcy, and Ruxton, were very literate fellows and should have known better, but I guess they were just going with the conventions of the time and place.

Notchy Bob

The lineage goes back to Wolfgang and Nicholas Haga, or Hachen. Nicholas's son was Christian Hawken (Hachen). His sons were the S. and J. Hawken Bros. of St. Louis.

Notchy Bob said:

“Hawken” was the name used by brothers Jacob and Samuel, and that was the surname they stamped on their barrels. See the photo posted by brother @Arrowhead_92 in post #4.

However, if you read the literature of the period, just about everybody who mentioned these rifles in print back then called them “Hawkins.” Some of those writers, such as Brewerton, Marcy, and Ruxton, were very literate fellows and should have known better, but I guess they were just going with the conventions of the time and place.

Notchy Bob

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Germanic names seem to get butchered even today. Myself having a rare Germanic name it never ceases to amaze me how people butcher the spelling or how they pronounce it. Wolfgang Haga was actually the younger brother of Samuel and Jacobs grandfather.

Spelling wasn’t such a strict discipline a couple of centuries ago. Read some original journals and the same fellow will spell the same word in various ways. My dad spelled our last name two different ways because the pay master at one point used an e instead of i so he adopted that till later when he re-enlisted.

Halkuns is the only acceptable spelling.

William Shakespeare, although not - to our knowledge - a BP shooter of any particular note, nonetheless is known to have spelt his own name in at least sixteen different ways.

Even such a simple name as mine has been spelt four different ways - not bad for just five letters.

Sigh. I do wish there was a meme with a picture of a REAL Hawken. This is the best one I've found.

People really botch up the Hawken Spelling. I see Hawkins often. How many times you have seen some one spelling out a S&W pistol with the spelling 'Smith and Western'. ??
Ohio Rusty ><>

Them Hopkins boys sure made a bunch o' rifles!

My grandmothers maiden name was “Hawkins” and she hailed from just outside of St Louis. She was born in the early 1880’s. My brother in law did a slew of genealogy on our family and there is an Otis Hawkin(s) named somewhere in there. I don’t have any of the paperwork on it, my BIL has it all in Wyoming.

Makes me wonder at times.

Gun Tramp said:

Yep, Harken.

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I don't believe there is an r in Hawken.
That's a good thing for people in the part of the country that cannot properly say words with an r.
Like "car" being pronounced "caah".

tom in nc said:

I don't believe there is an r in Hawken.
That's a good thing for people in the part of the country that cannot properly say words with an r.
Like "car" being pronounced "caah".

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@Gun Tramp was making a joke. There was a little interchange on this forum a year or two ago in which a forum member meant to write "Hawken," but it somehow ended up "Harken." Some of the boys picked it up and ran with it, and Gun Tramp is reviving the joke. You can type "Harken" in the search box and see what pops up, if you're interested.

Some people do add an /r/ after the /a/ in some words, though. I think it is a dialectical thing, but I'm not sure where it's from... Maybe someplace in the midwest. I know I've met several people who called our capital "Warshington," or talked about "warshing dishes." I do think the only place I've seen "Harken," though, is on this forum.

Best regards,

Notchy Bob