Dean Family History

English: topographic name from Middle English dene ‘valley’ (Old English denu) or a habitational name from any of several places in various parts of England named Dean or Dene from this word. English: nickname or occupational name for the servant of a dean or nickname for someone thought to resemble a dean.

A dean was an ecclesiastical official, the head of a chapter of canons or a church official with jurisdiction over a sub-division of an archdeaconry. Though no doubt some deans had illegitimate children, they were officially celibate, and in the main, the surname is probably a nickname in origin, similar to Bishop, Prior, Priest, and Monk.

The Middle English word deen, dien, dein is a borrowing of Old French d(e)ien, doien from Latin decanus (originally a leader of ten men, from decem ‘ten’) and thus is a cognate of Deacon.

English: from the Middle English personal name Deyne (or Dene) a rhyming pet form of Reynald (see Reginald). Italian: occupational name cognate with 2 above from Venetian dean ‘dean’, a dialect form of degan, from degano (Italian decano).

Irish: variant of Deane. Scottish: habitational name from Den in Kildrummy, Aberdeenshire, or Dean in Kilmarnock, Ayrshire.