The exact boundaries of the kingdom remain uncertain, though it is likely that they coincided with those of the old Diocese of Worcester, founded in 679–680, the early bishops of which bore the title Episcopus Hwicciorum.

One etymology comes from the common noun hwicce "ark, chest, locker", in reference to the appearance of the territory as a flat-bottomed valley bordered by the Cotswolds and the Malvern Hills.

It is also likely that "Hwicce" referred to the native tribes living along the banks of the River Severn, in the area of today's Worcester, who were weavers using rushes and reeds growing profusely to create baskets.

The modern word wicker, which is thought to be of Scandinavian origin, describes the type of baskets produced by these early people.

For instance, Richard Coates argues that the essence of an ark is that it is closed, rather than open like a valley or plain, that no cognate of hvikari or contemporary version of wicker is known, and that no full etymological argument to relate Gewisse to Hwicce has been advanced.

[10] Coates notes that the meaning would be "comparable with bombastic British tribal names of the Roman period, such as Ancalites 'the very hard ones', Catuvellauni 'the battle-excellent ones' or Brigantes 'the high ones'.

The toponym Hwicce survives in Wychwood in Oxfordshire, Whichford in Warwickshire, Wichenford, Wychbury Hill, Wyche and Droitwich in Worcestershire.

[14] According to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, there was a Battle of Deorham in 577 in which the Gewisse (West Saxons) under Ceawlin killed three British kings and captured Gloucester, Cirencester and Bath.

West Saxon occupation of the area did not last long,[citation needed] however, and may have ended as early as 584, the date (according to the Chronicle) of the battle of Fethanleag, in which Cutha was killed and Ceawlin returned home in anger; and certainly by 603 when, according to Bede, Saint Augustine held a conference with British bishops at Augustine's Oak on the border of the Hwicce and the West Saxons.

The Angles strengthened their influence over the area in 628, when (says the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle) the West Saxons fought (the Anglian) Penda of Mercia at Cirencester and afterwards came to terms.

Penda had evidently won, but had probably forged an alliance with local leaders, since the former Dobunnic polity did not immediately become part of Mercia but instead became an allied or client kingdom of the Hwicce.

By a complex chain of reasoning, one can deduce that Eanhere married Osthryth, daughter of Oswiu of Northumbria, and had sons by her named Osric, Oswald and Oshere.

An earlier marriage to Eanhere would explain why Osric and Oswald are described as Æthelred's nepotes — usually meaning "nephews" or "grandsons" but here probably "stepsons".