Find out how popular the last name Mains is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Mains.

Mains, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Mains surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Mains in America

Mains is the 8266th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Mains surname appeared 4,010 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Mains.

We can also compare 2010 data for Mains to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Mains

The surname Mains is of Scottish origin, deriving from the Scots word "mains" which means the home farm or principal farm of an estate. It is believed to have emerged as a hereditary surname in the 12th or 13th century, when it was used to identify individuals who lived or worked on the main farm of a feudal lord's lands.

In medieval Scottish records, the surname appears with various spellings, such as Mains, Maynes, and Mayn. One of the earliest recorded instances of the name is found in the Ragman Rolls of 1296, which list a Richard de Mayn as a landowner who swore fealty to King Edward I of England.

During the 13th and 14th centuries, the Mains surname was particularly prevalent in the Scottish Lowlands, particularly in the regions of Lanarkshire, Ayrshire, and Renfrewshire. These areas were home to several notable Mains families, including the Mains of Caldwell in Renfrewshire, who held lands from the 13th century onwards.

A prominent figure bearing the Mains surname was Sir William Mains of Caldwell (c.1560-1635), a Scottish landowner and politician who served as a Lord of Parliament during the reign of King James VI. Another notable individual was John Mains (1693-1753), a Scottish minister and theologian who was a prominent figure in the Church of Scotland during the 18th century.

In the 16th and 17th centuries, the Mains surname was also found in various parts of England, particularly in the northern counties, indicating that some Scottish Mains families had migrated across the border. One example is Thomas Mains (c.1600-1663), an English clergyman who served as the Rector of Stratford-upon-Avon and was acquainted with the famous playwright William Shakespeare.

The surname Mains has also been associated with several place names in Scotland, such as Mainhill in Lanarkshire and Mains of Errol in Perthshire. These place names likely originated from the presence of a significant "mains" or home farm in those areas.

Other notable individuals with the Mains surname include Sir John Mains (1719-1784), a Scottish merchant and politician who served as Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and James Mains (1834-1906), a Scottish-born Australian politician and businessman who was active in the colony of New South Wales in the late 19th century.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Mains

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Mains.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Mains was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Mains has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Mains was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Mains, please contact us.

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