Bane
A surname that in Scotland was often a nickname for someone fair- or white-haired.
The #6,127 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 55,222 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The best-attested historical explanation links Bane to Scottish Gaelic ban, meaning "white" or "fair." In older Scottish usage it could function as a descriptive byname, as in Donald Bane, "the fair Donald." Some English surname writers also treated it as a variant or confusion with related names such as Bain or Baines, so not every modern Bane family will share the same origin.
History
The name appears in Scottish historical contexts as a descriptive nickname and later as a hereditary surname. Because spelling was fluid, it was often written Bane, Bayn, or linked with Bain/Baines in older sources. In modern records it is comparatively uncommon and may reflect more than one independent line of origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older Scottish writers sometimes used the same Gaelic element in personal epithets, so Bane could originally describe appearance rather than ancestry.
From the historical record
“Inf. J. B. Payne, Esq., F.S.A. BANE. BAYN. Scotland. Gaelic, heme, white or fair, as Donald Bane, "the fair Donald;" often confused with Baines, which see. BANES. See Baines. BANGER. A provincialism for a large person, see Halliw. Or, possibly, from one of the Bangors in Wales.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom