The second verse of Lewis Carroll's The Hunting of the Snark lists some members of the unnamed vessel in which the pursuit of this beast took place.
The crew was complete: it included a boots - a maker of bonnets and hoods - a barrister, brought to arrange their disputes - and a broker, to value their goods.
The makers of hoods eventually acquired the surname Hood, and according to MacLysaght's The Surnames of Ireland this is a well-known English surname. Strangely, however, this is not listed in The Penguin Dictionary of Surnames. MacLysaght informs that the O Hoods, who were bards to the O Neills of Clandeboy were Irish, being O hUid, and the Hoods found in Ulster are almost exclusively O hUid.
Elsewhere in Ireland their origin is English. "Several people so called are recorded in the Justiciary Rolls and Ormond Deeds as early as 1297: these were mostly in Co Tipperary, and one of their homes, in the Cashel area, was called Huddeston. By the 17th century they had become more numerous in south Kilkenny and Wexford, where the placename Hoodsgrove perpetuates the memory of one branch" (Mac Lysaght's More Irish Families).
The 1659 census lists Hood among the principal Irish names in the Co Wexford barony of Bargy, while the Wexford book of the Civil Survey 1654 shows Nicholas Hood, Irish Papist, as being in possession of 20 acres at Hagarde, in the parish of Bannow. (There were a further two townlands named Haggard in the barony of Shelburne, also in Co Wexford). Besides these three, there are today two townlands named Haggard in Co Kilkenny and one in Kildare.
The Shorter Oxford Dictionary, dating "haggard" from 1586, says this word from Old Norse is found only in Ireland and the Isle of Man, and means "a haystack". Generally in Ireland the word embraces the area near the house where the grain- and hay-stacks were built.
"The Haggard" named a short road of houses in Howth, Co Dublin, but these houses were replaced and the road renamed "Harbour View".
Another reminder of farm activity even closer to the heart of Dublin city was found in an inquisition, some time between 1257 and 1263. This was concerning - among other matters - the theft of wheat and beans from the haggard beside St Kevin's. Among those sworn in to adjudicate upon these matters were two bakers (pistor), Robert Dispensator, William son of le Turnere (a wood turner), Radulph Cissor (i.e. shearman, that is draper), Nicholas Pellipare (skinner), and John de la Abbacia, that is John of/at the abbey.
Because the personal name Flann (bright red, blood red) was a popular early Irish name, it was necessary to add some distinguishing feature to identify one from the other. One of the best-known early Irish scholars was Flann Mainistreach (Flann of the abbey) who lived around the middle of the 11th century.
Did abbey eventually become established as a surname? Around 20 people named Abbey are listed in the telephone directories south of the Border, all in the province of Leinster, but predominantly in Co Carlow. None is to be found to its north.
Nor is it to be found in MacLysaght's Surnames of Ire- land, nor in Sean de Bhulbh's more recent Sloinnte na hEireann/ Irish Surnames.
Basil Cottle's Penguin Dictionary of Surnames however does, saying "presumably for a layman employed there".
How long is this name in Ireland? Apart from the 13th century sample listed above, there was Thomas Abbey (also spelled Abbay), clerk, who was chief rememberancer of the exchequer some time between 1439 and 1442.
The tithe applotment books, dating from 1823 to 1837, contain a record of the valuations assessed in each rural parish, and that of Co Carlow shows one listing of the surname Abbey in the barony of Forth. Griffith's Primary Valuation (1852-60) lists Abbey three times in the barony of Rathvilly; twice in the barony of Forth, and once each in the baronies of Carlow and St Mullins Lower. A single Abbey was listed in the Co Tipperary parish of Nenagh.
Duinnin's Focloir Gaeilge agus Bearla gives iothlann as the Irish for "haggard", but the more recent O Donaill Focloir Gaeilge-Bearla gives agard. Both Kilkenny townlands named Haggard are officially rendered An tAgard. Haggardstown in Co Louth, rendered "le Hagard" in 1326, is Baile Hagaird.