Hinson
A surname most likely meaning “son of Hine/Hind,” with Hine itself often a nickname or short form of older personal names.
The #1,807 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 15,548 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Hinson is an English surname built with the old patronymic ending -son, meaning “son of.” The first element is probably Hine or Hind, older personal-nickname forms that could point to a byname, an occupation, or a short form of a given name. The historical spelling Hineson is also noted, which supports the idea that Hinson developed as a reduced form of an earlier “Hine’s son” type.
History
Nineteenth-century surname writers treated Hinson as an old English family name and linked it with other -son surnames such as Hindson and Hineson. The name appears in historical records in England, and later became established in North America as well. Because spelling was fluid, Hinson may sometimes overlap historically with similar forms like Hinkson or Hindson in older records.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Bardsley specifically grouped Hinson with a small set of “surviving” old English -son surnames such as Shepherdson and Taylorson.
From the historical record
“Son as a suffix to occupative names. This is a small but interesting class : cf Hindson or Hinson, Herdson, Shepherdson. Even Taylorson exists in Yorkshire ; I have seen the name over a shop in Ripen. I hope some member of the family will marry and have, say, nine sons, all healthy, and continue this old English…”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances