Scottish: nickname for a fair-haired person, from Gaelic
bàn ‘white’, ‘fair’. This is a common name in the Highlands,
first recorded in Perth in 1324. It is also found as a reduced
form of McBain.
Northern English: nickname meaning ‘bone’,
probably bestowed on an exceptionally tall, lean man, from Old English
ban ‘bone’. In northern Middle English -a- was
preserved, whereas in southern dialects (which later became standard),
it was changed to -o-.
Northern English: nickname for a
hospitable person, from northern Middle English beyn,
bayn ‘welcoming’, ‘friendly’ (Old Norse beinn
‘straight’, ‘direct’).
English and French: metonymic
occupational name for an attendant at a public bath house, from Middle
English, Old French baine ‘bath’.
French: topographic name
for someone who lived by a Roman bath, from Old French baine
‘bath’ or a habitational name from a place in Ille-et-Vilaine, named
with this word.
Possibly an altered spelling of North German
Behn.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
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