Hinks History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

The ancient Anglo-Saxon surname Hinks came from the son of Hink or Hinche. 1 However, for the reader's perusal we are including the following quotation: "Hinks is no doubt a corruption of Hengest, which signifies a stallion. Some traditions make Heingist a Frisian, in which language the word is hingst, which approaches nearer to Hincks. In the names of places, Heingist has become changed to Hinks, as in Hinksey, county Berkshire." 2

Early Origins of the Hinks family

The surname Hinks was first found in Oxfordshire at either North Hinksey or South Hinksey, parishes, in the union of Abingdon, hundred of Hormer. 3 Traditionally part of Berkshire, this jurisdiction was changed to Oxfordshire in 1974. The place name dates back to Saxon times when it was first listed as Hengestesige in the 10th century. Literally the place name means "island or well-watered land of the stallion or of a man called Hengest," from the Old English words hengest or the Old English personal name + "eg." 4 One of the earliest records of the family was Roger Hanke who was listed in the Hundredorum Rolls of 1273 in Norfolk. 5 William Hynke was listed in the Subsidy Rolls of Suffolk in 1327 as was ? Hynks in 1381. 6

Early History of the Hinks family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Hinks research. Another 69 words (5 lines of text) covering the year 1576 is included under the topic Early Hinks History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Hinks Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Hinks family name include Hincks, Hinks, Hinck, Hincke, Hinckes, Hink and others.

Early Notables of the Hinks family

More information is included under the topic Early Hinks Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Hinks Ranking

In Newfoundland, Canada, the name Hinks is the 721^st most popular surname with an estimated 60 people with that name. 7

Hinks migration to the United States +

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Hinks surname or a spelling variation of the name include:

Hinks Settlers in United States in the 18th Century

William Hinks, who arrived in New England in 1718 8

Hinks migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Hinks Settlers in Canada in the 18th Century

Mary Hinks, who landed in Halifax, Nova Scotia in 1778

Hinks migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Hinks Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

Mr. Benjamin Hinks, (b. 1795), aged 25, British Convict who was convicted in Middlesex, England for 7 years for larceny, transported aboard the "Caledonia" on 5th July 1820, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) 9
Mr. John Hinks who was convicted in Leicester, Leicestershire, England for 14 years, transported aboard the "Circassian" on 4th November 1832, arriving in Tasmania (Van Diemen's Land) 10
Henry Hinks, English convict from Middlesex, who was transported aboard the "Arab" on February 22, 1834, settling in Van Diemen's Land, Australia 11
Emmanual Hinks, who arrived in Adelaide, Australia aboard the ship "Isabella Watson" in 1846 12
Eliza Jane Hinks, aged 18, a domestic servant, who arrived in South Australia in 1853 aboard the ship "Calabar" 13

Contemporary Notables of the name Hinks (post 1700) +

Samuel Hinks, American politician, Mayor of Baltimore, Maryland, from 1854 to 1856
Brigadier General Edward Winslow Hinks (1830-1894), career United States Army officer who served during the American Civil War
Charles William Hinks (b. 1880), former English professional footballer
Simon Graham Hinks (b. 1960), English first class cricketer
Bobby Hinks (b. 1918), Irish sportsperson
Joseph Hinks, British inventor who patented improvements to oil lamps in the mid 1800s
Arthur Robert Hinks (1873-1945), British astronomer and geographer, eponym of Mount Hinks and the Hinks Channel, Antarctica
James Hinks (1829-1878), Irish breeder who first bred and named the English Bull Terrier in the 1860s

Citations +

Hanks, Patricia and Flavia Hodges, A Dictionary of Surnames. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1988. Print. (ISBN 0-19-211592-8)
The Norman People and Their Existing Descendants in the British Dominions and the United States Of America. Baltimore: Genealogical Publishing, 1975. Print. (ISBN 0-8063-0636-X)
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
Reaney, P.H and R.M. Wilson, A Dictionary of English Surnames. London: Routledge, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-415-05737-X)
The order of Common Surnames in 1955 in Newfoundland retrieved on 20th October 2021 (retrieved from Family Names of the Island of Newfoundland by E.R. Seary corrected edition ISBN 0-7735-1782-0)
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
Convict Records Voyages to Australia (Retrieved 25th November 2020). Retrieved from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/caledonia
Convict Records of Australia. Retrieved 8th February 2021 from https://convictrecords.com.au/ships/circassian
State Library of Queensland. (Retrieved 2015, January 8) Arab voyage to Van Diemen's Land, Australia in 1834 with 230 passengers. Retrieved from http://www.convictrecords.com.au/ships/arab/1834
State Records of South Australia. (Retrieved 2010, November 5) ISABELLA WATSON 1846. Retrieved from http://www.slsa.sa.gov.au/BSA/1846IsabellaWatson.htm
South Australian Register Tuesday 2nd August 1853. (Retrieved 2010, November 5) Calabar 1853. Retrieved http://www.theshipslist.com/ships/australia/williamstuart1853.shtml