Frequency: (165)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
Jewish (Ashkenazic): metronymic from the Yiddish female personal name Bine (from Yiddish bin ‘bee’, used as a translation of the Hebrew female personal name Devora ‘Deborah’, the literal meaning of which is ‘bee’). Bine is often folk-etymologized as being from the Hebrew noun bina ‘understanding’.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
