The name of the villages are of topographic origin, a plural form of the Slavic-rooted word ochab, denoting swamp, quagmire or bog.

It was first mentioned in a Latin document of Diocese of Wrocław called Liber fundationis episcopatus Vratislaviensis from around 1305 as item in Ochabe.

The creation of the village was a part of a larger settlement campaign taking place in the late 13th century on the territory of what would later be known as Upper Silesia.

Politically the village belonged initially to the Duchy of Teschen, formed in 1290 in the process of feudal fragmentation of Poland and was ruled by a local branch of Silesian Piast dynasty.

The settlement is situated on both banks of the Vistula, in Oświęcim Basin, between roughly 270–320 m (890–1,050 ft) above sea level, 14 km (8.7 mi) north-west of the Silesian Beskids.