Kain
A surname with multiple possible roots, most commonly either a spelling of Kane/Cain or a locational name linked to Caen, Normandy.
The #6,603 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 60,161 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Historical surname dictionaries give Kain as an English spelling variant of Kane, and also note that it could represent the Norman town of Caen in older records. In some cases it may therefore be a baptismal or patronymic form related to Cain/Kane; in others it is locational, referring to someone from Caen. The name was written in several spellings in medieval and later records, which makes the exact origin of any one family hard to pin down without local evidence.
History
Bardsley and Lower both treat Kain as a variant found in English records, while Lower specifically connects it with Kane and with Caen in Normandy. The surname appears in British and Irish record traditions, and later spread into the United States in small numbers. Because several different surname streams can converge on the same spelling, family histories for Kain may differ by region.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older records sometimes spelled the Norman place-name Caen as Kain, which can make a surname look Irish or English when its trail is actually French.
From the historical record
“Kinprunes." KAIN. The same as Kane. The town of Caen in Normandy was sometimes so written in English records. KAINES. The same as Keynes. KAIRNS. SeeCau-n. K ALL ANDER. The same as Callander. KALLOWAY. The same as Callaway.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom