Clan MacBean

Our Clan

Clan MacBean (in Gaelic, Clann Mhic Bheathain) is one of the oldest families of the Clan Chattan confederation. Our chiefs held the lands of Kinchyle above Loch Ness for centuries, and today the clan’s people live all over the world. Here is our story in brief.

Where we come from

The clan takes its name from Bean “Mòr” (Big Bean), son of Maolmoire, a man of the ancient Clan Chattan in Lochaber. Tradition says he came in the party of his kinswoman Eva, heiress of Clan Chattan, when she married Angus Mackintosh in 1291. Bean stood by Angus against the Red Comyn, and his son and grandsons later moved north and took the protection of the Mackintosh chiefs as Captains of Clan Chattan.

The MacBeans settled at Kinchyle, near Dores on the south side of Loch Ness, and fought with Clan Chattan through the centuries, losing “many of the Clan Bean” at Red Harlaw in 1411. Their chief signed the Clan Chattan bands of 1543 and 1609, and was granted a charter of Kinchyle in 1610.

At Culloden in 1746 the chief, Major Gillies “Mòr” MacBean, died a hero’s death. His son Donald later served in Canada, and Kinchyle was sold in 1760. The chiefly line moved to Badenoch and then, with William McBean, the 16th Chief, emigrated to Glengarry in Ontario.

For some 170 years the clan had no recognized chief. In 1960 the Lord Lyon recognized Hughston McBain of McBain of Chicago as 21st Chief. He was followed by his son James, the 22nd Chief, and in 2022 by James’s son Richard, the 23rd Chief.

The lineage, by Philip Beddows, the Chief’s Seanachaidh, is on the Chief’s website.

Hughston McBain of McBain, 21st Chief, at McBain Memorial Park about 1961, with Dores and Loch Ness behind.

The Chief

Richard McBain of McBain is the 23rd hereditary Chief of the Clan MacBean. He was inaugurated on 6 August 2022 at McBain Memorial Park above Loch Ness, in a ceremony overseen by the Lord Lyon King of Arms, and was presented with a carved cromach bearing the clan’s war cry, “Kinchyle!”

The Chief’s own website tells his story and holds the clan’s coat of arms, the tartans, the full history of McBain Memorial Park, and the Seanachaidh’s Notes of the clan historian, Philip Beddows.

Our name, crest, motto and war cry

The name

In Gaelic we are MacBheathain, “son of Bean”. Spoken aloud it sounds like “mac-VAY-an”, and clerks and record-keepers wrote down what they heard. That is why the name has so many spellings: MacBean, McBain, MacBain, Bean, Beane, Bane, Bayne, MacVean, McElvain and dozens more. Brothers in the same family sometimes spelled it differently.

War cry: Kinchyle!

Kinchyle (say “kin-HILE”) was the land of the chiefs above Loch Ness, near the village of Dores. Its name was the cry the clan’s warriors raised as they charged.

Crest and motto

The clan crest is a wildcat holding a targe, a round Highland shield, inside a strap and buckle bearing the motto “Touch not a catt bot a targe”: don’t touch this cat without a shield. Clan members wear it as a badge, the strap and buckle showing their loyalty to the Chief. The wildcat is the emblem shared by the clans of Clan Chattan, the “clan of the cats”.

Names associated with the clan

Alvin, Bain, Baine, Baines, Bane, Bayn, Bayne, Beain, Bean, Beane, Beattie, Bee, Beean, Been, Beene, Beth, Bheath, Binnie, Binning, Cabean, Cabeane, Cabeen, Cobain, Cobean, Elvain, Elvaine, Elvane, Elvayne, Elveen, Elwain, Elwane, Elwee, Ilvain, Ilvaine, Ilvayne, Ilvean, Ilveen, Ilveene, Ilwain, Ilwaine, Ilwane, Ilwee, MacAlbea, MacBain, MacBeath, MacBeth, MacBheath, MacIlvain, MacIlveen, Macilvian, MacVane, MacVean, McBain, McBeath, McElveen, Vain, Vaine, Vane, Vayn, Vaynes, Vean, Veane, Vee, Veen, Veene, Vian, Wain, Waine, Wane.

Mac, Mc, M’ and Mack all mean “son of”, so any of them may come first.

The tartans

The Chief recognizes five official tartans, and any member of the clan may wear any of them:

MacBean (Clan), the tartan most of us wear, also woven in softer “Ancient” colors
McBain Chief, Hughston McBain’s tartan, recorded by the Lord Lyon in 1960
MacBean Dress, on a white ground, designed by Jamie Scarlett for his MacBean wife and for clan dancers
MacBean of Tomatin, the oldest MacBean tartan known, rediscovered in 2018
MacBean Hunting, new in 2022, woven only by Lochcarron of Scotland

All five are sold through ScotlandShop, and members of the Clan MacBean Association receive 10% off. Every sale helps support the Association.

The story of each tartan, on the Chief’s website »

MacBean places to visit in Scotland

Visiting the Highlands? These places have strong links to the clan.

McBain Memorial Park, above Dores on the B862 south of Inverness: a small piece of the old Kinchyle lands, open to all clan members. History and how to find it.
Kinchyle, near Dores: the old home of the chiefs. The house is private, but it can be seen from the road past the park turn-off.
Culloden Battlefield, east of Inverness: where Gillies Mòr MacBean fell in 1746.
Inverness Town House: the marble bust of Major-General William MacBean VC stands on the staircase.
Faillie and Tomatin, south of Inverness off the A9: home of two branches of the clan.

St Bean’s Church, Fowlis Wester, near Crieff: a medieval church dedicated to St Bean, with Pictish cross-slabs and a piece of the tartan Alan Bean took to the Moon.
Killiecrankie, near Pitlochry: the Soldier’s Leap over the River Garry, linked by tradition to Donald McBane.
Harlaw, near Inverurie: the battlefield of 1411 where many of the Clan Bean fell.
Moy Hall, south of Inverness: seat of the Mackintosh chiefs, Captains of Clan Chattan.

Join Clan MacBean

Membership starts at $30 a year. Members receive The Register, help from the clan genealogist, member pricing, and news of gatherings and Highland games.

Or make a donation to the clan or to McBain Memorial Park

McBain of McBain (the Chief) · Clan MacBean Shop · Clan Chattan · Clan videos on YouTube · The Court of the Lord Lyon