Hain Family History

English: habitational name from any of various places named with Middle English heghen, a weak plural of hegh, from Old English (ge)hæg ‘enclosure’. See also Haynes. English: from the Middle English personal name Hain, Heyne. This is derived from the Germanic personal name Hagano, originally a byname meaning ‘hawthorn’. It is found in England before the Conquest, but was popularized by the Normans. In the Danelaw, it may be derived from Old Norse Hagni, Hogni (see Hagan), a Scandinavianized version of the same name. English: nickname for a wretched individual, from Middle English hain(e), heyne ‘wretch’, ‘niggard’. German: topographic name for someone who lived by a patch of enclosed pastureland, Middle High German hage(n) (see Hagen 1), hain, or a habitational name from a place named Hain, from this word. German: from the Germanic personal name Hagin, originally a byname from the same element as in 2 above. Jewish (eastern Ashkenazic): metronymic from the Yiddish personal name Khaye ‘life’ + the Slavic possessive suffix -in.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press