Hynes - Irish Surname Origin & Meaning
Irish form: Ó hEidhin
Meaning: descendant of Eidhin
Traditional stronghold: Galway
Kings of Uí Fiachrach Aidhne in south Galway.
Pronunciation: HYNZ; Irish Ó hEidhin: oh HY-in
History of the Hynes name
The Ó hEidhin sept descends from the line of Guaire Aidhne, the seventh-century king of Connacht whose name became a byword for generosity in Irish tradition. They were hereditary chiefs of Uí Fiachrach Aidhne, the territory in south Galway around Gort and Kinvara, where Dunguaire Castle by Kinvara harbour preserves King Guaire's name. The family retained standing in the district for centuries after the Norman settlement, and Hynes, with its variant Hines, is still very much a south Galway and Clare surname. Mary Hynes of Ballylee, celebrated by the blind poet Raftery and later by Yeats, gave the name a lasting place in Irish literary lore.
Variants: Hines · Heyne · O'Heyne
Famous bearers of the name
- Garry Hynes - Founder of Druid Theatre in Galway and the first woman to win a Tony Award for directing.
- Mary Hynes - The famed beauty of Ballylee, immortalised in verse by Raftery and Yeats.
- John B. Hynes - Mayor of Boston in the 1950s, of Irish stock.
Related names from the same part of Ireland: Kelly · Lynch · Connolly · Burke · Clarke · Hughes · Keane · Kenny