Last name origins & meanings:
- English: topographic name from Middle English dene
‘valley’ (Old English denu), or a habitational name from any of
several places in various parts of England named Dean, Deane, or Deen
from this word. In Scotland this is a habitational name from Den in
Aberdeenshire or Dean in Ayrshire.
- English: occupational
name for the servant of a dean or nickname for someone thought to
resemble a dean. A dean was an ecclesiastical official who was the
head of a chapter of canons in a cathedral. The Middle English word
deen is a borrowing of Old French d(e)ien, from Latin
decanus (originally a leader of ten men, from decem
‘ten’), and thus is a cognate of Deacon.
- Irish: variant of Deane.
- Italian: occupational name cognate
with 2, from Venetian dean ‘dean’, a dialect form of
degan, from degano (Italian decano).
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