Rabone Family History

Variant of Rathbone with loss of medial -th- and lengthening of the vowel. This is evident from the comparative examples of Rathbone cited below but some of the following bearers may alternatively belong with (2) and the two names may also have been confused.

From northern Middle English ra-bayn (Old Scandinavian rá-bein ‘roe-bone or -leg’) for a man who could run as fast as a roe-deer.

Northern bayn has later been substituted by the Midlands form bone.