Forbes (name)

Forbes is a surname. It derives from the Scottish Clan Forbes (after a toponym, from Gaelic forba "field"^[1]). Descendants of the Scottish clan are also present in Ireland from the 17th century. The name of an unrelated Irish sept, Mac Fhirbhisigh or MacFirbis, was also anglicized as Forbes.^[2]

Notable people with the surname Forbes include:

Aristocracy

• Clan Forbes, descendants of Alexander de Forbes, 1st Lord Forbes (c. 1380–1448): see Lord Forbes, Lord Forbes of Pitsligo.
  • Nigel Forbes, 22nd Lord Forbes (1918–2013), Scottish soldier, businessman and politician
• Forbes baronets of the Baronetage of Nova Scotia: four distinct baronetcies for people called Forbes:
  • Forbes, later Stuart-Forbes, of Monymusk, created 1626 for William Forbes (died c.  1650)
    • Sir William Forbes, 6th Baronet (1739–1806)
  • Forbes, of Castle Forbes, created 1628 for Arthur Forbes (1590–1632): see Earl of Granard.
  • Forbes, of Craigievar, created 1630 for William Forbes (died 1648).
    • Sir Ewan Forbes, 11th Baronet (1912–1991)
  • Forbes of Foveran, created 1700 for Samuel Forbes (c. 1663 – 1717), extinct with the death of the 3rd baronet, John Forbes, c. 1760.
• Forbes baronets of Newe in the County of Aberdeen, created 1823 for Charles Forbes (1774–1849).
  • Hamish Forbes, 7th Baronet (1916–2007)

Artists

• Edwin Forbes (1839–1895), American landscape painter, etcher, and war artist during the American Civil War
• Elizabeth Forbes (artist) (1859–1912), Canadian artist
• Stanhope Forbes (1857–1947), Irish painter

Businesspeople

• Forbes family, a wealthy extended American family originating in Boston, descended from John Forbes (1740–1783), an Anglican clergyman of Strathdon, Aberdeenshire, recorded in Milton, Massachusetts by 1769.
  • James Grant Forbes (1879–1955), American businessman
  • Robert Pierce Forbes (born 1958), American historian
  • William Cameron Forbes (1870–1959), American investment banker and diplomat, Governor-General of the Philippines (1908–13), U.S. Ambassador to Japan (1930–32)
• George Forbes (businessman) (born 1945), businessman
• James Staats Forbes (1823–1904) Scottish railway engineer, administrator, businessman and art collector
• John Murray Forbes (1813–1898), American businessman and philanthropist
• Walter Forbes, American executive and convicted fraudster

Musicians

• China Forbes (born 1970), American singer and songwriter
• Derek Forbes (born 1956), Scottish singer and musician
• Elizabeth Forbes (musicologist) (1924–2014), critic and musicologist
• Elliot Forbes (1917–2006), conductor and musicologist

Performers and affiliated professions

• Bryan Forbes (1926–2013), English film director, actor and writer
• Maya Forbes (born 1968), American producer and director
• Michelle Forbes (born 1965), American actress

Politicians

• Archie Forbes (1913–1999), Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture & Cooperative Development in Tanganyika (1960–1963)
• Frederick Augustus Forbes (1818–1878), Australian politician
• George Forbes (New Zealand politician) (1869–1947), Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1930 to 1935
• George L. Forbes (born 1931), American politician
• Jim Forbes (Australian politician) (born 1923)
• John Murray Forbes (diplomat) (1771–1831), American diplomat
• Michael Forbes (born 1952), American politician
• Peter W. Forbes (born 1850), Canadian-born member of the California legislature
• Randy Forbes (born 1952), American politician in U.S. House of Representatives
• William Henry Forbes (1815–1875), American territorial legislator

Publishers

• Forbes family (publishers)
  • B. C. Forbes (1880–1954), founder of Forbes magazine
  • Christopher Forbes, Vice Chairman of the Forbes Publishing Company
  • Malcolm Forbes (1919–1990), publisher of Forbes magazine, son of B. C.
  • Steve Forbes (born 1947), American businessman, current publisher of Forbes Magazine
  • Tim Forbes, brother of Steve, also worked for the company

Scientists

• David McHattie Forbes (1863–1937), Scottish botanist and ethnologist in Hawai'i
• Edward Forbes (1815–1854), British naturalist
• Francis Blackwell Forbes (1839–1908), American merchant and botanist in China
• George Forbes (scientist) (1849–1936), scientist
• Gregory S. Forbes (born 1950), American meteorologist
• Henry Ogg Forbes (1851–1932), British ornithologist, botanist and museum director
• James David Forbes (1809–1868), Scottish physicist and glaciologist
• Stephen Alfred Forbes (1844–1930), American entomologist and ecologist
• William Alexander Forbes (1855–1883), British zoologist
• William Trowbridge Merrifield Forbes (1885–1968), American entomologist

Sportspeople

• Alex Forbes (born 1925), retired Scottish footballer
• Elizabeth Forbes (athlete) (1910–2002), New Zealand track and field athlete
• Fred Forbes (born 1894), Scottish footballer
• Gary Forbes (born 1985), Panamanian/American basketball player
• Ross Forbes (born 1989), Scottish footballer who plays for Motherwell
• Terrell Forbes (born 1981), British footballer
• W. J. Forbes (1874–1900), American college sports coach

Writers

• Archibald Forbes (1838–1900), British war correspondent
• Esther Forbes (1891–1967), American novelist and children's writer
• Moira Forbes (born 1979), American journalist
• Colin Forbes (novelist), pseudonym of British novelist Raymond Harold Sawkins

Others

• James A. Forbes, American clergyman
• John Forbes (British Army officer) (1707–1759), British general in the French and Indian War
• Kristin Forbes (born 1970), American economist
• Rosemary Forbes Kerry (1913–2002), American activist and mother of John Kerry

Given name

Forbes as a given name is rare, mostly known due to Forbes Burnham (full name Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham , 1923–1985), leader of Guyana from 1964 until his death.

Forbes McAllister is a fictional character (a "cynical restaurant critic") from Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge (1994).

References

1. Henry Harrison, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary (1912), p. 150.
2. Michael C. O'Laughlin, The Book of Irish Families, Great & Small, 2002, p. 108.