English (Yorkshire): habitational name from a place called Hey.Dutch: topographic name for someone who lived on a heath, Dutch hei, heide.German: metonymic occupational name for a grower or mower of grass, from Middle High German höu ‘grass’, ‘hay’.North German (Frisian) and Dutch: from a Germanic personal name formed with hag ‘fence’, ‘enclosure’ as the first element.South German: occupational name from Middle High German heie ‘ranger’, ‘warden’, ‘guard’ or a topographic name from Middle High German haie ‘protected wood’.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press