Patrick Hanks points out that 13th-century manorial records describe the village as Stockenechurch, which would logically come from OE stoccen + cirice, literally "logs church".

[2] However Starey and Viccars, in their study of the village point to the geography of the local area and the fact that in 1086 Stokenchurch was a woodland in the chapelry of Aston Rowant in Oxfordshire.

[3] They present the Hanks opinion as a credible origin however argue that due to the geography the name is more likely to come from the alternative meaning for the Anglo Saxon word stocc, which is an outlying farm or secondary settlement.

The site of the village (being on the main London to Oxford road) proved a good resting and changing place for horses.

[11][12] Most other pubs and inns from the horse changing heyday have now disappeared, the latest victim being the Four Horseshoes, turned into private dwellings in 2012.

[13] This leaves only the small Royal Oak (now operating as a Nepalese restaurant, Gurkha Hut)[14] near the church and the larger and more prominently located Fleur de Lis facing the King's Hotel across the village common and A40.

[17] Stokenchurch is one of the places in the United Kingdom where one can frequently see the red kite, a formerly endangered species whose numbers are now recovering well, though still in isolated pockets such as the Chilterns and West Wales.

They were reintroduced to the area by the RSPB and English Nature with assistance from Paul Getty, the American millionaire and philanthropist, who allowed use of the Wormsley estate.