Rains
Usually an English place-based surname, most likely from Rennes in Brittany or a related place name like Rainford.
The #3,055 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 26,305 Americans shares it.
Etymology
This surname is generally treated as locational. In one traditional explanation, it refers to Rennes in Brittany, the city once called Condate Rhedonum, with the byname used for someone who came from there. Other surname dictionaries also point to English place-names such as Rainford in Lancashire, so the surname may have arisen more than once from different local origins.
History
Medieval records include forms such as William le Rain, showing the name in use in England by the Middle Ages. Later surname writers connected Rains with both continental and English place-names, which suggests that modern bearers may descend from several unrelated lines. The spelling Raines is a close historical variant and is often treated together with Rains.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century source explicitly glosses Rains as belonging to Rennes, while another lists it beside other clearly locational surnames, a good reminder that the same spelling can have more than one origin.
From the historical record
“RAINES' RAINS 2 Bel. to Rennes (Brittany), anc. Con- date Rhedonum, Or Confluence of the Rhedones. Richard de Rennes. — Plac. de quo Warr. . . . she [Guenever] was wrapped in cered cloth of Raines. — Morte d' Arthur, xxi. xi. RAINFORD 1 (Eng.)Bel.toRainford(Lancs),”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)