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Fairlie (surname)
Fairlie is a Scottish surname. It has alternatively been spelled Fairley, Fairly, Fairle,[1] Ffairlie,[2] Ferly, Fferle, among other similar variations. The Scots and Cumbric term fairlie/fferly/fferyll/fferyllt is often a synonym for fairy.[3] These variations appear in various parish records and armorial rolls. HistoryThe family name emerges in several different locations in Scotland: Fairlie in Ayrshire and the former lairdship of Braid in Midlothian (now within the City of Edinburgh). The arms featured on this page are attributed to Alexander Fairlie of Braid (thrived circa 1549-1623) in The Crawford Armorial (folio 105), published circa 1599. Arms for other family members are often recorded with various charges and bruises, like a ribbon sable or a star in dexter chief. These undifferentiated arms are identical to those of the Earl of Fife and MacDuff. They are also quite similar to those of Powys. Alex Maxwell Findlater has speculated that this similarity points to an ancestry within ancient Fife[4] while other myths speculated that the Fairlies of Braid, or a cadet branch of the family, descended from King Robert II. How that is possible is unclear, since a member of the line was a charter beneficiary of King Robert I. MottoThere are several mottos associated with Fairlies and recorded sets of arms. From the branch that descended from the family of Braid, the motto is recorded:
Other Fairlies of Ayrshire, Falkland, and Myres have often preferred one of the following phrases:
EtymologyThe name originates in regions that were anciently populated by Gaelic and Cumbric-speakers. There is known to be a series of Brittonic kingdoms that stretched from modern Wales, through the west coast of England (Cumberland), through to the southern regions of modern Scotland (Lothian).[5] These kingdoms would have shared some cultural traits like languages Definition in ScotsThe old Scots definition of a fairlie is:
Possible origins in GaelicThere are many possible origins of the surname, with fear/fir being a common denomination for a tribe of people and lí/leigh/laigh/laois/ being commonly found in place and people names throughout Ireland, Scotland, and England.
If modern DNA testing results illustrate the lineage's origins in Ireland correctly, tt may also be possible that it is linguistically related to names of other Irish and Scottish clans, Ó Dálaigh or MacLea. Though no other immediate connection is confirmed, both of these clans share similarities in attributed arms and originating regions in Ireland. It may also be related to the region named Farney. Possible origins in CumbricThere is a similar word in Cumbric and Welsh fferllys/fferyl relating to a region of Elfael in Wales and/or pseudo-mythical figures meaning either: Both the Scots and Cumbric phrases seem loosely related to the concept of a "wonder-worker". Proposed origins in Old EnglishIt's commonly speculated that the Scottish name Fairlie and its variety of spellings originates from an old or middle-English phrase meaning some version of:
Y-DNA HaplogroupsThere were prominent Fairlie families in Ayrshire, Fife, and Lothian and like with many prominent families and other toponymic surnames of the British Isles there are a variety of peoples who have adopted the name over the centuries. Known recorded Y-DNA haplogroups for Fairlie descendants are: These markers indicate an Irish-Scots lineage, with representation in Ulster, Northern Leinster, Northern Connacht, Airgíalla, Ayrshire, Fife, and Lothian. These locales correlate with findings from the Irish DNA Atlas for Northern Ireland Type I and II genetic groupings' distribution patterns.[8] Notable people
See alsoReferences
External links This page lists people with the surname Fairlie.
If an internal link intending to refer to a specific person led you to this page, you may wish to change that link by adding the person's given name(s) to the link. |
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