Submitted Surname Revision History

loadingDate    Editor    Change Summary
6/10/2016, 3:45 AM LMS
12/30/2015, 7:25 PM lilolaf
12/27/2015, 10:46 PM lilolaf
12/4/2015, 9:27 AM lilolaf
12/4/2015, 9:03 AM lilolaf

Name Gaines
Type Surname (from nickname)
Other Forms FormsGurganus
Edit Status Statusnot set

Meaning & History

English (of Norman origin): nickname for a crafty or ingenious person, from a reduced form of Old French engaine ‘ingenuity’, ‘trickery’ (Latin ingenium ‘native wit’). The word was also used in a concrete sense of a stratagem or device, particularly a trap.
This surname has also assimilated reduced variants of Welsh Gurganus.
Added 12/4/2015 by lilolaf