English: nickname for a pleasant person, from Middle English bēne ‘friendly, amiable’.

English: metonymic occupational name for a grower or seller of beans, from Middle English bene ‘bean’ (Old English bēan ‘beans’, a collective singular). The broad bean, Vicia faba, was a staple food in Europe in the Middle Ages. The green bean, Phaseolus vulgaris, came from South America and was not introduced to Europe until the late 16th century. The word bene was commonly used to denote something of little worth, and occasionally it may have been applied as a nickname for someone considered insignificant.

English: possibly a habitational or topographic name. Redmonds, Dictionary of Yorkshire Surnames, cites Adam del Bene of Harrogate (1351) as evidence to suggest that in the Harrogate area, where the Yorkshire name later proliferated, it may have been derived from a place where beans grew.