Bean

Old English bean "bean, pea, legume," from Proto-Germanic *bauno (source also of Old Norse baun, Middle Dutch bone, Dutch boon, Old High German bona, German Bohne), and related to Latin faba "bean;" Greek phakos "lentil;" Albanian bathë "horse-bean;" Old Prussian babo, Russian bob "bean," but the original form is obscure. Watkins suggests a PIE reduplicated root *bha-bhā- "broad bean;" de Vaan writes that the Italic, Slavic and Germanic "are probably independent loanwords from a European substratum word of the form *bab- (or similar) 'bean'." As a metaphor for "something of small value" it is attested from c. 1300 (hill of beans as something not much to amount to is from 1863). Meaning "head" is U.S. baseball slang 1905 (in bean-ball "a pitch thrown at the head"); thus slang verb bean meaning "to hit on the head," attested from 1910. Bean-shooter as a child's weapon for mischief, a sort of small sling-shot to fire beans, is attested from 1876. Slang bean-counter "accountant" recorded by 1971. The notion of lucky or magic beans in English folklore is from the exotic beans or large seeds, carried from the Caribbean or South America by the Gulf Stream, that wash up occasionally in Cornwall and western Scotland. They were cherished, believed to ward off the evil eye and aid in childbirth. To not know beans "be ignorant" is attested by 1842 in American English, often said to be a New England phrase; it is perhaps from the "object of little worth" sense. Some of the earliest citations give it in a fuller form, but they do not agree: "why, I sometimes think they don't know beans when the bag is open" ["The History of the Saints," 1842]; "This feller don't know beans from porridge, no how." ["Etchings of a Whaling Cruise," 1850]. It might have a connection to the English colloquial expression know how many beans make five (1824) "be a clever fellow."

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Scottish baby name: fair skinned. Occupational name for a grower or seller of beans. Nickname for a pleasant person, means: friendly, amiable. Diminutive of beatha: life in Gaelic.

Popularity	Name	Birth Year	Description
1	Sean Bean	1959	English actor
2	Sawney Bean	1500	Semi-mythical head of a 48-member clan in 15th- or 16th-century Scotland
3	Orson Bean	1928	American Actor
4	Noah Bean	1978	American actor
5	Roy Bean	1825	American judge
6	Shoshana Bean	1977	American actress and musician
7	Colin Bean	1926	Actor
8	Leon Leonwood Bean	1872	American businessman
9	Andy Bean	1953	American college golfer, professional golfer, PGA Tour member
10	Linda Bean	1941	American businessman
11	Travis Bean	1947	American luthier
12	Charles Bean	1879	Journalist, historian
13	Terry Bean		American activist
14	Melissa Bean	1962	American politician
15	Marcus Bean	1984	English footballer
16	Henry Bean	1945	Film director, actor
17	Jake Bean	1998
18	MC Bean	1984	Romanian musician
19	Charlie Bean	1953	British economist
20	Bean		Character in the Ender's Game series
21	Ivy Bean	1905	British internet personality
22	Mr. Bean	1955	Character in Mr. Bean
23	Bean Bunny
24	Vaughn Bean	1974	American boxer
25	Carl Bean	1944	Clergy
26	Robert Bennett Bean	1874	American anatomist and ethnologist
27	Martin G. Bean	1964	British academic administrator
28	Aaron Bean	1967	American politician
29	Bubba Bean	1954	American football player
30	Joshua Bean	1818	American mayor
31	Michael Bean
32	David Bean	1954	British judge
33	Dexter Bean	1987	Racecar driver
34	Bennett Bean	1941	Artist
35	Mollie Bean		Confederate Army soldier
36	Terry "Harmonica" Bean	1961	American blues harmonicist and guitarist
37	Colter Bean	1977	American baseball player
38	Hugh Bean	1929	British musician
39	Peter Ellis Bean	1783	Mexican revolutionary
40	Anne Bean	1950	Performance artist
41	Tarleton Hoffman Bean	1846	American ichthyologist
42	Cathy Bao Bean	1942	Educator
43	Joe Bean	1874	Major League Baseball shortstop
44	Daniel A. Bean	1846	American Uniion Army soldier, 1846
45	Randy Bean	1956
46	George Ewart Bean	1903	Archaeologist
47	Gerry Bean
48	Joel Bean	1825	Quaker
49	William Bennett Bean	1909	Filipino physician
50	Gastone Bean	1936	Italian footballer
51	Curtis Coe Bean	1828	American politician
52	James Bean	1933	Politician
53	Benning M. Bean	1782	American politician
54	Robert S. Bean	1854	American judge
55	James C. Bean		Vice president and provost, University of Oregon
56	Belve Bean	1905	American baseball player
57	John Bean	1751
58	Henry J. Bean	1853	American politician
59	Jeff Bean	1977	Canadian freestyle skier
60	Marc Bean	1974
61	Billy Bean	1915	Professional footballer
62	Ralph Bean	1980	Bermudian footballer
63	Alan Bean		Activist
64	Roger Bean	1962	American writer, director and producer
65	Frank D. Bean	1942	American academic
66	William Jackson Bean	1863	British botanist
67	Graham Bean	1961	Compliance Officer of the English Football Association
68	Keishen Bean	1987	Bermudian footballer
69	David R. Bean	1827	American politician
70	Philip Bean	1936	Professor
71	Robert Bean		Canadian photographer
72	Anthony Bean	1957	Australian botanist
73	Richard Bean	1965	French actor
74	Marjorie Bean		Bermudian politician, educator and philanthropist
75	Blenn Bean	1977	Bermudian footballer
76	Pedro Bean	1954	Argentinian aviator and military personnel
77	William Bean	1787	English palaeontologist
78	Joseph Bean	1876	English cricketer
79	Nicolas Bean	1987	Short track speed skater
80	Barton Appler Bean	1860	American zoologist
81	Ernest Bean	1866
82	Selwyn Bean	1886	British Archdeacon
83	Orestes U. Bean	1874
84	Jonathan Bean	1964	English cricketer
85	Ralph J. Bean	1912	American politician
86	Leslie Bean	1906	Cricketer
87	Richard A. Bean		American banker
88	Ron Bean	1926	English footballer
89	Maurice Darrow Bean	1928	American diplomat
90	Josh Bean	1982	Player of American and Canadian football
91	Margaret Bean	1953	A former track and road cyclist from Guam.
92	David Marks Bean	1832
93	DeVon Bean
94	Graeme Bean	1948	Australian rules footballer
95	Reathel Bean	1942	American actor
96	Caroline van Hook Bean
97	Isabelle Bean	1862
98	Patricia Anne Bean	1930	Botanist
99	Danielle Bean	2000	American biathlete
100	Bean van Limbeek	1944
101	George Bean		British singer and guitarist.
102	Rachel Bean
103	Floyd Bean	1904	American musician and pianist