When Rachel Forbes was christened on 24 November 1717, her father, John Forbes, was 28 and her mother, Isabell Ainslie, was 30.
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Scottish: habitational name from Forbes in Tullynessle, Aberdeenshire, so named from Gaelic forba ‘field, district’ + the locative suffix -ais. The placename is pronounced in two syllables, with the stress on the second, and the surname until recently reflected this. Today, however, it is generally a monosyllable.
Irish: shortened Anglicized form of Gaelic Mac Firbhisigh ‘son of Fearbhisigh’, a personal name composed of elements meaning ‘man’ + ‘prosperity’.
History: A family of this name (see 2 above) in Connacht was famous for its traditional historians, compilers of the Book of Lecan.
Dictionary of American Family Names © Patrick Hanks 2003, 2006.
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