# McBain (surname)

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

A surname from Scottish Gaelic.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | Scottish Gaelic |
| Type | patronymic, formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 1,226 |
| US rank (2010) | 21,360 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 251,832 people |
| Change since 2000 | -12.4% (1,399 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | not recorded |
| Variant spellings | Mebane |

## Etymology

Anglicized form of Scottish Gaelic Mac a' Ghille Bhàin (“son of the pale or white-haired man”).

## Who carries it

Share of people named McBain 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) | 89% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 4.2% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 4.4% |
| Asian and Pacific Islander | 0.8% |
| American Indian and Alaska Native | 0.8% |
| Two or more races | 1.1% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named McBain in the United States.

## People named McBain

- Diane McBain, American actress (1941–2022)
- Jamie McBain, American ice hockey player
- Evan Hunter, American author and screenwriter (1926-2005)

## Similar surnames

McBean, McCubbin, McCubbins, McKibben, McGuffin, McGibbon.

## 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.