Hynes
An Irish surname that often reflects an anglicized form of an older Gaelic family name, and in some areas has also been linked with spellings like Hoynes or Hoins.
The #4,388 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 38,098 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Hynes is mainly an Irish surname. The historical sources connect it with Gaelic forms that were later anglicized in several different ways, including Hynes, Haynes, Hoynes, and Hoins. In older scholarship it is often treated as a variant rendering of an Irish family name beginning with the patronymic prefix O', though the exact underlying Gaelic form is not always stated consistently in the excerpts.
History
The name appears in Irish surname scholarship as a widespread anglicized form, especially in Ulster and other Irish contexts where spellings varied from parish to parish and even within the same family. Matheson notes that some people were recorded as Hoins rather than Hynes, showing how unstable the spelling could be in official records. The surname is also found in English-speaking countries through Irish migration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Historical sources show that one district could have families who wrote the same surname as either Hoins or Hynes, reflecting how fluid Irish name spellings once were.
From the historical record
“6 hei-om, O'Heyne, Heines, Hynes, Hindes, etc. 0 h6i-6in, Haines, Haynes, Hynes. 6 hei-oi|ifce6il, O'Driscoll,”
— Sloinnte Gaedheal is Gall: Irish names and surnames