Bain Family History

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.

Source: Dictionary of American Family Names ©2013, Oxford University Press