Farah
A surname usually derived from an Arabic given name meaning “joy” or “happiness.”
The #5,203 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 45,958 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Farah comes from the Arabic word farah, meaning “joy,” “gladness,” or “happiness,” and it is also used as a personal name. As a surname, it most often began as a family name taken from an ancestor’s given name rather than from a place or occupation. In some cases it may reflect Arabic-speaking naming traditions that later became hereditary family names.
History
The surname is found among Arabic-speaking communities across the Middle East and North Africa, and it also appears in diaspora communities around the world. In modern usage it is relatively common as both a personal name and a family name, which can make its surname history overlap with first-name usage. The exact path into hereditary surname form may vary by region and family.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Farah is one of those surnames that also reads immediately as a common word-name, so its literal meaning is easy for many speakers to recognize.