Anciently written Hede or Hide. Probably from the place written Hede or Hide in Doomsday Book, now Hithe, in Kent, England, where the earliest traces of the Head family are found. From the Anglo-Saxon Hithe, a harbor, a shelter for boats.

Arthur, William (1857) An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman. Public Domain.

e° HEAD. A component syllable of many surnames derived from places, as Headford, Heading, Headland, Headley &c. See next article. HEAD. A promontory or foreland, as Beachy Head, Spurn Head. Also the source of a river. Head or Hed, was a baptismal name in Scotland, in the XII. century. Hedde, without prefix, is found in H.E., as is also the A-Sax. form Heved.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.