Where Does the McBain Surname Come From?

It is easy to miss McBain in an index if you only search for MacBean. In origin, the name means “The son of Bean (life)”.

McBain coat of arms

A coat of arms belongs to a particular family line rather than to everyone named McBain, so the heraldry linked to MacBean is a starting point, not an automatic right.

A variant of MacBean

McBain is listed among the recognised spellings of MacBean. Regional accents shaped spellings long before dictionaries fixed them. The same family of names includes MacBain and McBean.

The Census Bureau's 2010 surname file lists McBain with 1,226 bearers, at rank 21,360. For the full story, order the McBain surname pack.