Last Name FOSTER

Summary/Contribute


Meaning	The forester. 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. Probably a corruption of Forrester or Forster.

Origin	English, Scottish, Jewish, Spanish, French, Native American, Chilean, Irish, Creole, Belgian, South african, Hungarian

Rank	87 (2000 US census)	93 (1990 US census)

Count	221,040 (2000 US census)

Race / ethnic distribution

The 2000 US Census claims that

72%, or 159149 total occurrences, of those with this family name identified themselves as being white,
23.19%, or 51259 total occurrences, as black,
0.46%, or 1017 total occurrences, as Asian and Pacific Islander,
0.86%, or 1901 total occurrences, as American Indian and Native Alaskan,
1.78%, or 3935 total occurrences, as two or more races, and
1.7%, or 3758 total occurrences, as Hispanic ethnic origin.

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