Rainey Family History

Irish (Antrim and Down) and Scottish: Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Ráighne from a personal name derived from the Old Norse name Rǫgnvaldr itself from ragn- ‘god divine power’ + vald ‘power rule’ (see Ronald Reynold). In Ireland the name became Mac Raighne Ó Raighne with modern forms Rainey Raney Reaney Reanney Reanny Reany Reinny Rennie Reyney Ryney.

English (of Norman origin): habitational name from Regny (Loire France) common in the 12th and 13th centuries. English: from the Middle English and Older Scots personal name Rayn(e)y Renie a pet form of Reynold. English: habitational name from Ranah Stones in the township of Thurlstone in Penistone (Yorkshire).

The placename derives from Old Norse hrafn ‘raven’ + haugr ‘hill mound’. Stones is a post-medieval addition and refers to a number of boulders on the hillside. This Sheffield name usually with the spelling Reaney and correctly pronounced Rainey is now often pronounced Reeney.

Its best known bearer is P. H. Reaney who pioneered the modern study of English surname origins. English (of French Huguenot origin): from the French personal name René (from Latin Renatus ‘reborn’).

The name Renatus was borne by a 4th-century Christian saint and became popular in France in the Middle Ages because of its transparent reference to Christian spiritual rebirth. See Rene.