Recorded in many spellings, some far removed from the original as shown, this is an English surname. It is locational and although it takes some believing, is a slang form of Eynsham, the small town in the county of Oxfordshire. This place is first recorded in the year 571 a.d in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicles as Egonesham, and later as Euenesham in the Pipe Rolls of the county in 1160. The name means "Eogen's water-meadow", from the pre 7th century personal name Eogen, in modern Welsh Owain, meaning well-born, with 'hamm, a low-lying meadow which flooded in winter - a water-meadow. The surname from this source has a number of forms as a result of phonetic spelling and clerical errors as the surname was dispersed around the country. These localised spellings include Incham in Lincolnshire in 1606, Henchen in London in 1609, Hinchin and Hinchon in Gloucestershire in 1617, Hincham in Surrey in 1663, Anchan in London in 1803, and Inchan in London in 1848. Early church register recordings include Richard Hinchins at Yarcome in Devon, on October 28th 1561, whilst in the city of London we have the christening of John Hinchen, the son of John and Elizabeth Hinchen, on August 22nd 1784 at St. Matthew's Bethnal Green. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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