# Drain (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/drain/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | occupational, named after the work an ancestor did |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 3,859 |
| US rank (2010) | 8,527 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 80,007 people |
| Change since 2000 | +5.9% (3,643 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

* As an Irish surname, from Ó Dreáin (“descendant of Dreán”), probably from dreán (“wren, songbird”) (see Welsh dryw (“wren”)). * Also as an Irish surname, from Ó Druacháin; see Drohan. * As an English surname, occupational surname related to the noun drain. * Also as an English surname, spelling variant of Drane. * As a French surname, reduced from Derain, from Old French dererain (“the last”), nickname for the youngest son of a family; see derrière (“behind”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named Drain in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 63% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 31% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 1.7% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.5% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 1.0% |
| Two or more races | 2.6% |

## Similar surnames

Duran, Doran, Drane, Drouin, Draughn, Dorian, Darwin, Drohan, Durham, Dorn, Duron, Drum.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.