Heins
A surname that is usually a patronymic form meaning “son of Hein,” with Hein being a short form of Henry or Heinrich.
The #8,728 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 82,179 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Heins is best understood as a patronymic surname built from the short form Hein, a pet form of Germanic names such as Heinrich and Henry. The ending -s in Dutch and Low German naming often means “son of” or “belonging to,” so the literal sense is “Hein’s son” or “descendant of Hein.” In some families it may overlap with related forms such as Heyns or Heins(e), but the core idea is the same.
History
The cited historical sources place Heins among a larger group of Dutch and Low German father-name surnames. It appears alongside forms like Heyns and Heining, showing that it developed in regions where short personal names became inherited family names. The surname is still found today in German- and Dutch-speaking areas and in countries shaped by later migration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
In older surname studies, Heins is grouped with other everyday patronymics like Jansen and Hendriks, because they all began as simple “son of” names.
From the historical record
“vetter) — Henne; Henn — Hehn. Gen. Hagens; Hagena (ostfries.) — Heinen; Heins. Patr. A. Hanning — Heining — Henning (noch im 17. Jh. Vorname, z. B. Henning”
— Die deutschen Familiennamen