Raines
An English surname that can come either from the town of Rennes in Brittany or from Rayne in Essex.
The #1,676 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 14,348 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Raines is an old locational surname with more than one possible source. One line of explanation connects it with Rennes in Brittany, whose name appears in older English spellings as Raines or Raneis. Another, especially in England, links it to Rayne in Essex, a place-name that gave rise to the form de Raines and related spellings.
History
Lower specifically notes that the Raines families of Essex, Yorkshire, and Sussex were said to descend from a Norman companion of William the Conqueror who received land at Rayne in Essex. The name also survives in the variant Rains, and historical spellings such as de Raines and Raneis show how place-names could shift as surnames became hereditary. Because both Rennes and Rayne are plausible sources, the surname has a mixed geographic history rather than a single fixed origin.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The same surname can point either to a Norman-era landholding in Essex or to an older French place-name in Brittany.
From the historical record
“deen ; the southern from Raiue, co. Essex. RAINES. I. An old spelling of the town of Rennes, in Brittany. 2. But the Raineses of Essex, Yorkshire, and Sussex, descend from Roger, a companion in arms of William the Conqueror, who rewarded him with lands at Rayne in Essex and else- where. Hence he and his posterity…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom