Frequency: (1190)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. Irish: reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Dreain ‘descendant of Drean’, a byname possibly from dreán ‘wren’. The name is also found in Scotland.
2. Irish (Cork): reduced Anglicized form of Gaelic Ó Druacháin (see Drohan).
3. English: from Middle English dreine ‘drain’, ‘ditch’, hence a metonymic occupational name for a ditch digger or a topographic name.
4. English: variant spelling of Drane.
5. French: reduced form of Derain, from Old French dererain ‘last’, hence a nickname for the youngest son of a family.
6. French: habitational name from a place in Maine-et-Loire called Drain.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
