INCH. Several parishes and places in Scotland. Inch is a topographical expression signifying island. It has been derived from the British ynys, and the Gaelic inis — insula. "The word is said to occur with the same signification in some of the aboriginal languages of North America." Gaz. Scot!. But it sometimes denotes level ground contiguous to a river.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.