Clan MacBean

Clan MacBean
MacBeathain
Crest: Wildcat holding a shield known as a Targe
Motto	Touch Not A Catt Bot A Targe
War cry	Kinchyle
Profile
Region	Highland
District	Inverness
Plant badge	Boxwood or red whortleberry
Animal	Scottish Wildcat
Chief
James McBain of McBain
22nd Chief of Clan MacBean
Historic seat	Kinchyle in the parish of Dores, Inverness-shire. Tomatin, in Strathdearn and Faillie, in Strathnairn
Septs of Clan MacBean Bean, MacBean, McBean, McBeath, MacBeth, Macilvain, MacVean, Bain, (spellings listed in the Clan Chattan Association's literature, but clearly other variant spellings exist)
Clan branches Principal branches of the family were MacBean of Kinchyle, MacBean of Faillie, MacBean of Tomatin, MacBean of Drummond
Allied clans Clan Mackintosh Chattan Confederation
Rival clans Clan Cameron Clan Gordon

Clan MacBean (or Clan MacBain), is a highland Scottish clan and is a member of Clan Chattan.

There could be several possible Gaelic origins for this name, with bheathain (lively one) being the most likely. Another likely origin for the name is the gaelic Bàn ('Fair' / 'White' in English), which appears in the name of Scottish King Donald Bàn - the name could be a reference to the colour of his hair and/or the paleness of his face. A third, but perhaps less likely origin of the name is the suggestion that the name originated from 'Beann' (otherwise 'beinn'), which means 'top'/'peak', as applied to the names of mountains such as Beinn a' Chaorainn in Lochaber and Britain's highest mountain Ben Nevis (Gaelic: Beinn Nibheis). If the name did arise from 'Beann' then one might assume it was a reference to the height of the person it was applied to.

An authoritative view on the origin of the name MacBean came from the respected Gaelic academic Alexander MacBain who, in his An Etymological Dictionary of the Gaelic Language, wrote the following words:

MAC-BEAN, G (i.e. Gaelic). McBheathain, from Beathan, Englished as Bean (1490, Beane, 1481) or Benjamin: *Bitâtagno-s, life's son, from beatha, life, with the termination -agno-s, meaning "descendant of," Eng. -ing, now used like the Eng. to form diminutives. Also Mac-bain, Mac-vean.

If one pronounces the name McBeathain without use of the usual English "th", but lightly skip over it, as one would do in Gaelic, one can easily see how the name was then written as MacBean, McBain etc.

However, Alexander MacBain also provided a view on the origin of the name 'Bain' in the same dictionary, which supports the name having arisen from 'Bàn':

BAIN, from G (i.e. Gaelic). Bàn, white. The Bains of Tulloch appear in the sixteenth century variously as Bayne or Bane, with a contemporary near them called John Makferquhair McGillebane (1555). This last name is now McIlle-bhàin, "Fair-gille," rendered into Eng. by Whyte; whence also McGilvane.

As detailed further below, despite the similarity of the name, it is important to note that the Bains of Tulloch are not related to or a part of Clan MacBean.