Forbes
A Scottish surname from the lands and barony of Forbes in Aberdeenshire, originally a place-name tied to “free lands.”
The #1,028 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 9,131 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Forbes is a Scottish locational surname, taken from the lands and barony of Forbes in Aberdeenshire. Older writers linked the place-name with Gaelic words for “free lands” or lands exempt from military service, though nineteenth-century sources also repeat folk explanations. In origin, the surname simply meant a person from Forbes, the estate or parish that gave the family its name.
History
The Forbes family is recorded as holding the lordship of Forbes by the reign of William the Lion, and later branches became widely spread and influential in Scotland. The name has long been strongly associated with Aberdeenshire, where the family seat was established early. In later centuries Forbes also spread widely as a hereditary surname in Scotland and beyond.
Origin
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Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century source notes a tradition that the family name may have been explained by “free lands,” reflecting the medieval status of the estate.
From the historical record
“used in this sense in Hall's Clironicle. FORBES. A town and barony in Aber- deenshire. The family jiossessedthat lord- ship as early as temp. AVilliam the Lion, Probably Forres in JMoraj- I and were seated at Pitscottie in tlie same ' shire in 1476. Debrett. See Art. Coult- hart.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom