Baines is a surname of English, Scottish or Welsh origin. It shares many of the same roots with the British surname Bains. It shares some roots with the British surname Bain. Derivation and variants Baines has a number of different sources, several of them nicknames and another based on an occupation. In Scotland and the north of England the Old English word bān ('bone') became Middle English bān and bain. It may have become a nickname in the plural, meaning 'bones' or '[long-]legs' (cf. modern German Bein, also meaning both "bone" and "leg"). The Middle English bayn, beyn and the Old Norse beinn meant 'straight' or 'direct', which may have become a nickname. The Middle English bayne (and French bain) meant 'bath'. This may have become an occupational surname for an attendant at a public bath. Baines may also have Welsh roots, from the patronymic ab Einws ('son of Einws'). Einws is a shortened version of the Welsh name Ennion, meaning 'Anvil'. Variants of the surname Baines include Bains, Banes, Baynes and Bayns. Frequency of occurrence At the time of the British Census of 1881, its relative frequency was highest in Rutland (31.2 times the British average), followed by Westmorland, Lincolnshire, Yorkshire, Leicestershire, Lancashire, Nottinghamshire, Montgomeryshire and Bedfordshire. Hanks and Hodges suggest in their "A Dictionary of Surnames" that many present day Baines descend from Robert Baines of Ipswich, Suffolk, England (born ). John Baines, Liverpool, England, Doctor of Physics. Notable people with the surname Baines (In alphabetical order) Ajay Baines, Canadian ice hockey player Andrew Baines, Australian artist Anthony Baines, English musicologist Charlie Baines (1896–1954), English footballer Chris Baines (born 1947), English gardener, naturalist, television presenter and author Edward Baines (1774–1848), English newspaper-proprietor and politician Edward Baines (1800–1890), son of the above, also a nonconformist English newspaper editor and Member of Parliament Frank Baines (1877–1933), English architect Lewis Baines (1998–present) English footballer playing for Fleetwood Town Francis Baines (1648–1710), English Jesuit Sir George Grenfell-Baines, English architect George Washington Baines (1809–1882), grandfather of president Lyndon Baines Johnson Harold Baines, former right fielder and designated hitter in Major League Baseball Jervoise Athelstane Baines, Census Commissioner in British India John Baines (born 1946), incumbent Professor of Egyptology at the University of Oxford Kate Baines (born 1978), English actress Leighton Baines (born 1984) English footballer Matthew Talbot Baines (1799–1860), British lawyer and Liberal politician Michael Baines (1898–1990), English cricketer and British Army officer