Recorded in many spellings including: Dane, Dain, Dean, Dein, Danes, Daines, Deanes, and Deines, this is an English and Scottish patronymic surname. It is derived from a byname or nickname applied to the son of someone who acted the part of a dean, in the medieval pageants of the 12th century onwards, or who was the servant or companion of a dean. The word dean originally the French "digne", derives from the Latin "decanus", meaning "a leader of ten men", but later it described "an honourable person". Job descriptive surnames originally denoted the actual occupation of the namebearer, and later became hereditary, however as church leaders were supposedly celibate, this name does no relate directly to an occupation. Early examples taken from surviving rolls, charters, and registers include: William Dien, in the accounts of the duchy of Cornwall, in 1297, John Deynes of Cambridge in the Hundred Rolls of 1327, James Deins, a merchant of Glasgow in 1606, and Jacob Deanes, the Baillie of Edinburgh in 1682. Agnes Daines, the daughter of Thomas Daines, is noted as being christened in Edinburgh, on September 18th 1617. The first recorded spelling of the family name is believed to be that of Robert le Dine, in the Pipe Rolls of thge county of Surrey, in the year 1201. This was during the reign of King John of England, 1199 - 1216. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was sometimes known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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