Thain Family History

Scottish (Aberdeenshire and Banffshire) and English (East Anglia): status name from Middle English and Older Scots thein theyn ‘thane’ (Old English and Old Norse thegn) for a person of high social rank, a noble retainer, a warrior, or a senior government officer.

Compare Knight. In Scotland in the later Middle Ages the term was used to denote someone who held land directly from the king.

Sometimes also from the Old Norse personal name Thegn, derived from the same word.