Recorded as Hine, Hyne, Hynne, Hynes, and sometimes Hindson, Hineman and Hiner, this unusual surname is of early medieval English. It is occupational and like the terms steward or butler originally described a servant in a royal or noble house. The derivation is from the pre 7th century word "hiwan", meaning a household. Servants or really in modern terms officials or courtiers appointed to a major house, were highly regarded, and frequently held positions of great influence and financial reward. In some cases the post became hereditary. Early examples of the surname include Robert le Hine in the Hundred Rolls of landowners of the county of Suffolk in 1273, and Ricardus Hynne of Yorkshire, in the pipe rolls of that county in 1319. A quotation from Chaucer's Canterbury Tales, reads, "Ther n'as baillif, ne herde, ne other hine". Records of Masters and Mistresses from St. Andrew's Parish, in Barbados, include Mr. Robert Hine, a landholder of standing, in 1679. A notable bearer of the name was Henry George Hine (1811 - 1895), the landscape painter and a member of the Institute of Painters. A coat of arms associated with the surname has the blazon of granted a silver shield charged with three gold anchors on a fesse engrailed azure, in chief a black greyhound courant. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William le Hyne. This was dated 1240, in the Eynsham Cartulary of Oxfordshire, during the reign of King Henry 111rd, known as "The Frenchman", 1216 - 1272. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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