For `hash(CharSequence)`, it's a bit dangerous to use `hashCode()`. In `CharSequence`'s Javadoc:

> This interface does not refine the general contracts of the equals and hashCode methods. The result of comparing two objects that implement CharSequence is therefore, in general, undefined.
 @ejona86 - Great point. `name.hashCode()` would not work. I've updated the issue description to reflect this.

HPACK Encoder.java data structure improvements 
Encoder.java's data structure looks very similar to the data structure used in `DefaultHeaders`. We should investigate making some of the same improvements in Encoder.java as were made in `DefaultHeaders`:
- The underlying array should be a power of 2. Then we can use a mask `&` operation to index into the array.
- The `hash(CharSequence)` function ~~should just use the `name.hashCode()`~~ could re-use the [CASE_INSENSITIVE_HASHER](https://github.com/netty/netty/blob/4.1/common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/AsciiString.java#L1353) instead of inventing a new hash algorithm.
  - Also the negative value checks can be removed from `hash`.
- Consider exposing the size of the hash array as a parameter to the constructor. For folks that don't want a Dynamic table, or if they anticipate it will be small ... we could limit the size consumed by the underlying array (this would be similar to [DefaultHeaders](https://github.com/netty/netty/blob/4.1/codec/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/DefaultHeaders.java#L123).

codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/internal/hpack/Encoder.java codec/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/DefaultHeaders.java common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/AsciiString.java microbench/src/main/java/io/netty/microbench/http2/internal/hpack/EncoderBenchmark.java
codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/internal/hpack/Encoder.java codec/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/DefaultHeaders.java common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/AsciiString.java microbench/src/main/java/io/netty/microbench/http2/internal/hpack/EncoderBenchmark.java
codec-http2/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/internal/hpack/TestCase.java
diff --git a/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/internal/hpack/Encoder.java b/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/internal/hpack/Encoder.java
index ba0aa01bc28..4051dc37046 100644
--- a/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/internal/hpack/Encoder.java
+++ b/codec-http2/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/internal/hpack/Encoder.java
@@ -41,21 +41,22 @@
 import static io.netty.handler.codec.http2.internal.hpack.HpackUtil.IndexType.NEVER;
 import static io.netty.handler.codec.http2.internal.hpack.HpackUtil.IndexType.NONE;
 import static io.netty.handler.codec.http2.internal.hpack.HpackUtil.equalsConstantTime;
+import static io.netty.util.internal.MathUtil.findNextPositivePowerOfTwo;
+import static java.lang.Math.max;
+import static java.lang.Math.min;
 
 public final class Encoder {
-
-    private static final int BUCKET_SIZE = 17;
-
     // for testing
     private final boolean useIndexing;
     private final boolean forceHuffmanOn;
     private final boolean forceHuffmanOff;
-    private final HuffmanEncoder huffmanEncoder = new HuffmanEncoder();
 
     // a linked hash map of header fields
-    private final HeaderEntry[] headerFields = new HeaderEntry[BUCKET_SIZE];
+    private final HeaderEntry[] headerFields;
     private final HeaderEntry head = new HeaderEntry(-1, AsciiString.EMPTY_STRING,
             AsciiString.EMPTY_STRING, Integer.MAX_VALUE, null);
+    private final HuffmanEncoder huffmanEncoder = new HuffmanEncoder();
+    private final byte hashMask;
     private int size;
     private int capacity;
 
@@ -63,7 +64,14 @@ public final class Encoder {
      * Creates a new encoder.
      */
     public Encoder(int maxHeaderTableSize) {
-        this(maxHeaderTableSize, true, false, false);
+        this(maxHeaderTableSize, 16);
+    }
+
+    /**
+     * Creates a new encoder.
+     */
+    public Encoder(int maxHeaderTableSize, int arraySizeHint) {
+        this(maxHeaderTableSize, true, false, false, arraySizeHint);
     }
 
     /**
@@ -73,7 +81,8 @@ public Encoder(int maxHeaderTableSize) {
             int maxHeaderTableSize,
             boolean useIndexing,
             boolean forceHuffmanOn,
-            boolean forceHuffmanOff
+            boolean forceHuffmanOff,
+            int arraySizeHint
     ) {
         if (maxHeaderTableSize < 0) {
             throw new IllegalArgumentException("Illegal Capacity: " + maxHeaderTableSize);
@@ -82,6 +91,10 @@ public Encoder(int maxHeaderTableSize) {
         this.forceHuffmanOn = forceHuffmanOn;
         this.forceHuffmanOff = forceHuffmanOff;
         capacity = maxHeaderTableSize;
+        // Enforce a bound of [2, 128] because hashMask is a byte. The max possible value of hashMask is one less
+        // than the length of this array, and we want the mask to be > 0.
+        headerFields = new HeaderEntry[findNextPositivePowerOfTwo(max(2, min(arraySizeHint, 128)))];
+        hashMask = (byte) (headerFields.length - 1);
         head.before = head.after = head;
     }
 
@@ -302,7 +315,7 @@ private HeaderEntry getEntry(CharSequence name, CharSequence value) {
         if (length() == 0 || name == null || value == null) {
             return null;
         }
-        int h = hash(name);
+        int h = AsciiString.hashCode(name);
         int i = index(h);
         for (HeaderEntry e = headerFields[i]; e != null; e = e.next) {
             // To avoid short circuit behavior a bitwise operator is used instead of a boolean operator.
@@ -321,26 +334,21 @@ private int getIndex(CharSequence name) {
         if (length() == 0 || name == null) {
             return -1;
         }
-        int h = hash(name);
+        int h = AsciiString.hashCode(name);
         int i = index(h);
-        int index = -1;
         for (HeaderEntry e = headerFields[i]; e != null; e = e.next) {
             if (e.hash == h && equalsConstantTime(name, e.name) != 0) {
-                index = e.index;
-                break;
+                return getIndex(e.index);
             }
         }
-        return getIndex(index);
+        return -1;
     }
 
     /**
      * Compute the index into the dynamic table given the index in the header entry.
      */
     private int getIndex(int index) {
-        if (index == -1) {
-            return -1;
-        }
-        return index - head.before.index + 1;
+        return index == -1 ? -1 : index - head.before.index + 1;
     }
 
     /**
@@ -362,7 +370,7 @@ private void add(CharSequence name, CharSequence value) {
             remove();
         }
 
-        int h = hash(name);
+        int h = AsciiString.hashCode(name);
         int i = index(h);
         HeaderEntry old = headerFields[i];
         HeaderEntry e = new HeaderEntry(h, name, value, head.before.index - 1, old);
@@ -410,28 +418,11 @@ private void clear() {
         size = 0;
     }
 
-    /**
-     * Returns the hash code for the given header field name.
-     */
-    private static int hash(CharSequence name) {
-        int h = 0;
-        for (int i = 0; i < name.length(); i++) {
-            h = 31 * h + name.charAt(i);
-        }
-        if (h > 0) {
-            return h;
-        } else if (h == Integer.MIN_VALUE) {
-            return Integer.MAX_VALUE;
-        } else {
-            return -h;
-        }
-    }
-
     /**
      * Returns the index into the hash table for the hash code h.
      */
-    private static int index(int h) {
-        return h % BUCKET_SIZE;
+    private int index(int h) {
+        return h & hashMask;
     }
 
     /**
diff --git a/codec/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/DefaultHeaders.java b/codec/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/DefaultHeaders.java
index b54015e8e9b..1a70f2b53f5 100644
--- a/codec/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/DefaultHeaders.java
+++ b/codec/src/main/java/io/netty/handler/codec/DefaultHeaders.java
@@ -49,12 +49,6 @@
  * @param <T> the type to use for return values when the intention is to return {@code this} object.
  */
 public class DefaultHeaders<K, V, T extends Headers<K, V, T>> implements Headers<K, V, T> {
-    /**
-     * Enforce an upper bound of 128 because {@link #hashMask} is a byte.
-     * The max possible value of {@link #hashMask} is one less than this value.
-     */
-    private static final int ARRAY_SIZE_HINT_MAX = min(128,
-                            max(1, SystemPropertyUtil.getInt("io.netty.DefaultHeaders.arraySizeHintMax", 16)));
     /**
      * Constant used to seed the hash code generation. Could be anything but this was borrowed from murmur3.
      */
@@ -120,7 +114,9 @@ public DefaultHeaders(HashingStrategy<K> nameHashingStrategy,
         this.valueConverter = checkNotNull(valueConverter, "valueConverter");
         this.nameValidator = checkNotNull(nameValidator, "nameValidator");
         this.hashingStrategy = checkNotNull(nameHashingStrategy, "nameHashingStrategy");
-        entries = new DefaultHeaders.HeaderEntry[findNextPositivePowerOfTwo(min(arraySizeHint, ARRAY_SIZE_HINT_MAX))];
+        // Enforce a bound of [2, 128] because hashMask is a byte. The max possible value of hashMask is one less
+        // than the length of this array, and we want the mask to be > 0.
+        entries = new DefaultHeaders.HeaderEntry[findNextPositivePowerOfTwo(max(2, min(arraySizeHint, 128)))];
         hashMask = (byte) (entries.length - 1);
         head = new HeaderEntry<K, V>();
     }
diff --git a/common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/AsciiString.java b/common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/AsciiString.java
index 98c9b3aee88..92cb6f8d412 100644
--- a/common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/AsciiString.java
+++ b/common/src/main/java/io/netty/util/AsciiString.java
@@ -1394,7 +1394,7 @@ public static int hashCode(CharSequence value) {
             return 0;
         }
         if (value.getClass() == AsciiString.class) {
-            return ((AsciiString) value).hashCode();
+            return value.hashCode();
         }
 
         return PlatformDependent.hashCodeAscii(value);
diff --git a/microbench/src/main/java/io/netty/microbench/http2/internal/hpack/EncoderBenchmark.java b/microbench/src/main/java/io/netty/microbench/http2/internal/hpack/EncoderBenchmark.java
index 7b4cdd98508..37200e9a19b 100644
--- a/microbench/src/main/java/io/netty/microbench/http2/internal/hpack/EncoderBenchmark.java
+++ b/microbench/src/main/java/io/netty/microbench/http2/internal/hpack/EncoderBenchmark.java
@@ -36,16 +36,24 @@
 import io.netty.microbench.util.AbstractMicrobenchmark;
 import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Benchmark;
 import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.BenchmarkMode;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Fork;
 import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Level;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Measurement;
 import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Mode;
 import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Param;
 import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Setup;
 import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.TearDown;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Threads;
+import org.openjdk.jmh.annotations.Warmup;
 import org.openjdk.jmh.infra.Blackhole;
 
 import java.io.IOException;
 import java.util.List;
 
+@Fork(1)
+@Threads(1)
+@Warmup(iterations = 5)
+@Measurement(iterations = 5)
 public class EncoderBenchmark extends AbstractMicrobenchmark {
 
     @Param

diff --git a/codec-http2/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/internal/hpack/TestCase.java b/codec-http2/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/internal/hpack/TestCase.java
index f4cb467ea98..6e33536cefe 100644
--- a/codec-http2/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/internal/hpack/TestCase.java
+++ b/codec-http2/src/test/java/io/netty/handler/codec/http2/internal/hpack/TestCase.java
@@ -161,7 +161,7 @@ private Encoder createEncoder() {
             maxHeaderTableSize = Integer.MAX_VALUE;
         }
 
-        return new Encoder(maxHeaderTableSize, useIndexing, forceHuffmanOn, forceHuffmanOff);
+        return new Encoder(maxHeaderTableSize, useIndexing, forceHuffmanOn, forceHuffmanOff, 16);
     }
 
     private Decoder createDecoder() {
