The Forbess Family Name

One surname, two spellings: Forbess and Forbes. The name is generally explained as “From the lands of Forbes”. Forbess adds a patronymic ending to Forbes, marking ‘son of’ or ‘of the family of’. Local scribes, dialects and emigration all left their mark on how the name was written. The same family of names includes Fforbes and Forbis.

The 2010 US Census counted 403 people named Forbess, ranking it number 51,610 among American surnames. It sits within the 100,000 most common last names in the country.

Looking for a Forbess coat of arms? Arms were granted to families, not to surnames, and our research shows which heraldic tradition fits yours. Want more than a summary? See the Forbess family name pack.