Last Name FORBES

Summary/Contribute


Meaning Local: Of Forbes, a town and barony in county Aberdeen. The famity possessed that lordship as early as temp. William the Lion, and were seated at Pitscottie in the same shire in 1476.
An old tradition records that in 870, Solvathius Forbes married Moravilla, daughter of King Gregory the Great. Another account states that, one Achonacher came from Ireland to Scotland about the end of the twelfth century, and having slain a monstrous wild boar, took the name of Forbear, afterwards turned to Forbeas, and used a boar's head in his arms to commemorate the deed. In the southeast corner of the parish of Au- chindon, is a spring, called the Nine Maidens Well, near which nine virgins were slain by a wild boar. The boar was afterwards killed by a young chief of the name of Forbes, the lover of one of the maidens. From this circumstance, the boar's head is now borne by the Forbes in their arms. This chieftain, who was named John de Forbes, was owner of the lands of Forbes in 1214 ; his son, Fergus de Forbes, was father of Alexander Forbes, whose son, Alexander Forbes, was the father of Sir John Forbes, who had three sons, Sir Alexander, Sir William, and Sir John: and from these three brothers are descended the families of Forbes.
Local: Lands free from military service, called 'Saor Forba,' or free lands. The name of a parish in Aberdeenshire, Scotland.
Origin English, Scottish, Jewish, Irish, Falkland, South african

Rank 986 (2000 US census) 983 (1990 US census)
Count 32,228 (2000 US census)

Race / ethnic distribution

The 2000 US Census claims that
  • 74.24%, or 23926 total occurrences, of those with this family name identified themselves as being white,
  • 20.26%, or 6529 total occurrences, as black,
  • 0.6%, or 193 total occurrences, as Asian and Pacific Islander,
  • 0.53%, or 171 total occurrences, as American Indian and Native Alaskan,
  • 1.89%, or 609 total occurrences, as two or more races, and
  • 2.48%, or 799 total occurrences, as Hispanic ethnic origin.


How many distinct last names exist in the United States of America?

How does one estimate/guess that number? The first source that comes to mind is the result of the latest available census. We know that 2000 year census presents us with a little over 150,000 unique surnames. The least po...

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Longest last names

The 2000 USA census contains more than 150,000 surnames. The longest surnames contain 15 characters each. There are 23 names like that. There could be more of those last names in reality. Firstly because it has been 10+ years since the survey and we could have gotten...


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