It seems probable that the name originated from the personal appearance of the bearer, Ban or Bain meaing “ fair,” consequently the name if found in many districts and associated with several clans. The name appears in different forms as MacBean, MacBain, and MacVean. An early Scottish King was known as Donald Ban.

Originally the MacBeans are said to have come from Lochaber in the suite of the heiress of Clan Chattan and settled in eastern Inverness-shire. Myles MacBean was a syrong supporter of MacKintosh against the Red Comynn, and at the Battle of Harlaw in 1411, many of the MacBeans fell fighting for MacKintosh. The principal family were MacBeans of Kinchyle, and Kinchyle signs several important Clan Chattan agreements in 1609, 1664 and 1756. Other families were the MacBeans of Drummond in the parish of Dores, MacBean of Faillie in Strathnairn, and MacBean of Tomatin in Strathdearn.

The MacBeans were ever a war-like clan, and at the Battle of Culloden, Gillies MacBean, filling a breach in a wall, killed fourteen of the Hanoverian side before he fell. His feat was almost emulated over a century later by Major-General William MacBean, who enlisted in the 93rd Regiment as a private, and rose to the command of the regiment in 1873. He gained the V.C. for attacking and killing single-handed eleven of the enemy in the main breach of the Begum Bagh at Lucknow in 1858. Another member of the Clan, Major Forbes MacBean of the Gordon Highlanders, gained the D.S.O. for his gallant conduct at the taking of the heights of Dargai in 1897.

Crest: A demi cat gules. Badge: Red whortleberry, Boxwood.