This most interesting surname has a number of possible origins. Firstly, it may derive from a shortened form of any of the various Germanic male given names with the first element "ragin", counsel; for example, Raymond, a compound of "ragin", and "mund", protection; also Reynold, meaning "counsel-rule" from "ragin" and "wald", rule. The medieval female personal name Reine, from the Old French "reine" (Latin "regina"), meaning "queen", may also have given rise to the surname. Finally, Raine may be of Scottish locational origin from a place thus called in the former county of Aberdeenshire, named with the Old Gaelic "rath chain", ford of the tax or tribute. The surname first appears on record in the late 12th Century (see below). Other early examples include: Sir Thomas Rane (Irvine, 1260), Alan Reyne (Cambridgeshire, 1260) and Johannes Rayne (Yorkshire, 1379). In the modern idiom the surname is also spelt Rain and Rayne. On February 2nd 1626, John Raine and Martha Newton were married in St. Botolph's, Bishopsgate, London. A Coat of Arms granted to the Raine family is silver, a cross pattee throughout sable, a chief gules. A leg erased in the middle of the thigh proper is on the Crest. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert de Ran(e), which was dated circa 1180, in the "Episcopal Registers of Aberdeenshire", during the reign of King Malcolm 111 of Scotland, 1051 - 1093. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was 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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