Meaning of The Name
Origin of name MacBean, is "Son of Beatham". Bean, Bbean, beann, beinn, s.f. degree, ban, is the pl. of bean which means, pinnacle, highground or mountain. The old Gaelic “Ban” means "mountain" and "horn (Islay)","Top","peak.bbeann". With Scottish blood made up with so much Germanic stock this descriptive term could have been applied to many people. The "Mac" prefix translates to "son of".
"Bain" is a common and one of many misspellings having other meaning as "the lively one". "Bean" pronounced in Scotland as "bh" in the Gaelic has a "bv" sound. The "ea" has the harsh "a". The "th" has an h sound. The "ai" has the harsh "e" sound. This becomes "Macbvaheen".
See: The Illustrated GAELIC Dictionary,BY EDWARD DWELLY.Vol. 1 GENEALOGICAL OFFICE AT KING'S ROAD, 1918
Read more about this topic: Clan Mac Bain
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