HASTINGS

English:
1. habitation name from the place in Sussex, near which the English failed to repel the Norman invasion. It is so called from OE Hoestingas 'people of Hoesta`, a byname from hoest violence, fury.
2. patr. from the comparatively rare Norman personal name Hasten(c), Hastang. This appears to be of ON origin, composed of the elements h� high + steinn stone.

Hastings is the family name of the Earls of Huntindon, granted the title in 1529. Their descent can be traced from Sir Henry de Hastings (d.1268). The family once hld great power; by marrige they were related to the kings of Scotland, and John, 1st Lord Hastings (1262-1312), was one of the claimants to the Scots throne in 1290.

The Roll of Battle Abbey......

HASTINGS, Robert de Venoix was the first Mareschal or Portreeve of Hastings. He came from Venoix, near Caen. Robert is named in the Domesday as FitzRalph and de Hastings and le Marschal. It must not hastily be concluded that everyone bearing the name of Hastings is descended from Robert de Venoix; many a man was so named simply because a native of that place.

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