Survey of English Place-Names

Historical Forms

• Wyk' 1160–80 Melsa

• Wyk' super Hull', Wyk' juxta Hull' 1280 Ass 1292 Meaux 1305 Rental

• Wyk' super le Hul 1279 Ch

• Wyke 1275 Ebor 1278 YI

• Wyke super Hull 1289 YI

• le Wyke, la Wyke 1278,1298 YI

• Wyke super le Hull 1282 Baildon

• le Wyche 1279 Abbr

• (le) S(o)uthwyk' 1307 Rental 1348 BenchBook

• Wykecroft 1299 BM

• portum de Hul', villa de Hul', Hul' 1228 1242 Cl 1268 Ebor

• portum de Hull, villa de Hull, Hull 1261 Selby 1264 Pat a.1678 Map

• Toune of Hull 1576 BevRec

• Le Hull 1287 Pat

• Hulle 1291 Ebor 1419 NCWills

• Kyngeston, Kingeston 1256 Ch 1413 BevAct 1314

• Kyngeston super Hul, Kyngeston on Hul, Kyngeston upon Hul, Kyngeston super Hull, Kyngeston on Hull, Kyngeston upon Hull, Kyngeston super Hulle, Kyngeston on Hulle, Kyngeston upon Hulle 1275 Meaux 1294 1299 BM 1548 YD

• Kingston super Hull, Kingston uppon Hull, Kingston on Hull, Kingston super Hulle, Kingston uppon Hulle, Kingston on Hulle 1306 BevAct 1476 Test 1576 NCWills

• Kengeston on Hulle 1306 Ebor

• Kengstown super Hull 1493 Sanct

• the Kingis town opon Hull 1487 Test

• Kynston uppon Hull 1482 Test

• Villa Regia super Hull 1407etfreqto1502 Test

• Sayercryk 1382 Ch

Etymology

Wike is from either OE  wic 'dairy-farm' or, more probably, OScand  vik 'creek, inlet' in reference to the mouth of the river Hull. There was a field here called Wykecroft 1299 BM.

Hull is named from the river Hull supra 6. The name has persisted in popular and semi-official usage down to the present time.

In 1292 Edward I exchanged with the monks of Meaux lands he had in Wawne (supra 44) and Wilsby (L) for Wike upon Hull, for the purpose of securing the port (Meaux fol. 69, etc.), and the place was officially called 'the king's town': nomen dictæ villæ de Wyk mutavit et eandem villam Kyngestonam super Hullo fecerat nominari (Melsa ii, 192). In 15th-century and later documents it was usual to refer to the place by its full name, Kingston upon Hull, and when the place was named more than once in the document, subsequently to use the simple form Hull.

Sayercryk 1382 Ch

In 1382 the king made a grant to the mayor and people of Kingston upon Hull “to have a port below the said town formerly called Sayercryk and now called Hull. ” This was actually an old name for one efflux of the river Hull (supra 6–7). 'Sayer 's creek,' from OScand  kriki , cf. Pottercrike 12th Malton. Sayer may have been the man who also gave his name to mariscum Saieri (1221–35 Melsa) in Sutton upon Hull, and he may be identical with or a predecessor of Saier de Suttona who flourished towards the end of the 12th century (cf. StoweCh , YD, etc.).