Hynes
Other names
Variant form(s)Hines, Hinds, Hindes, Haynes, Haines, Hynds

Hynes is a surname, many examples of which originate as the anglicisation the Irish name Ó hEidhin.

Etymology

According to the Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, the modern name Hynes and its variants derive from two quite different medieval names.

  1. The Irish Ó hEidhin, which means 'descendant of Eidhin'. The dictionary adds that Eidhin itself is 'a personal name of uncertain origin. It may be a derivative of eidhean "ivy", or it may represent an altered form of the place-name Aidhne’ and that 'the principal family of this name is descended from Guaire of Aidhne, King of Connacht. From the 7th century for over a thousand years they were chiefs of a territory in east County Galway. There appears to have been another branch of the family located in east County Limerick'.[1]
  2. The Middle English name Hine (with the addition of the genitive -s case ending, implying that the name-bearer was the child of a father called Hine, or addition of -s on the analogy of such names). This occupational name derives from Old English hīne ('household servant, farm labourer'), but in the Middle English period could also mean 'farm manager' and also be used of high-status people serving in a lordly household.[2]

Distribution

Around 2011, there were 3320 bearers of the surname Hynes in Great Britain and 3605 in Ireland. In 1881, there were 717 bearers of the name in Great Britain, with higher frequencies in the north of England, especially Lancashire; Devon and Cornwall; and also central Scotland, especially Lanarkshire.[3]

People

Notable people with surname include:

Fictional characters

Places

See also

References

  1. ^ The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ed. by Patrick Hanks, Richard Coates, and Peter McClure, 4 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), II, p. 1369 [s.v. Hynes]; ISBN 978-0-19-967776-4.
  2. ^ The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ed. by Patrick Hanks, Richard Coates, and Peter McClure, 4 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), II, pp. 1290, 1369 [s.vv. Hine, Hines, Hynes]; ISBN 978-0-19-967776-4.
  3. ^ The Oxford Dictionary of Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ed. by Patrick Hanks, Richard Coates, and Peter McClure, 4 vols (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2016), II, p. 1369 [s.v. Hynes]; ISBN 978-0-19-967776-4.
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