# Fairfax (surname)

Source: https://namelineage.com/surname/fairfax/  
Publisher: Name Lineage. Counts from the US Census Bureau; origin and etymology from Wiktionary; bearers from Wikidata. Data updated 2026-11-11.

A surname transferred from the nickname that was originally a nickname for someone with long fair hair.

| Field | Value |
|---|---|
| Origin | not recorded |
| Type | nickname, from a description or nickname of an ancestor |
| People in the US (2010 Census) | 1,478 |
| US rank (2010) | 18,622 of 162,253 |
| How often | about 1 in every 208,894 people |
| Change since 2000 | +3.1% (1,433 in 2000) |
| Pronunciation | /ˈfɛɚfæks/, 2 syllables |
| Variant spellings | none recorded |

## Etymology

English surname, equivalent to fair + fax (sense 1), “beautiful tresses.”

## Who carries it

Share of people named Fairfax in the 2010 US Census by the Census's own race and ethnicity groups. The Census suppresses a share when the count behind it is small.

| Group | Share |
|---|---|
| White (not Hispanic) | 51% |
| Black (not Hispanic) | 42% |
| Hispanic or Latino (any race) | 3.0% |
| Two or more races | 2.5% |

## Where

Wikidata records people named Fairfax in the United States and Australia.

## People named Fairfax

- Marion Fairfax, American actress, playwright and producer (1875–1970)
- Alan Fairfax, Australian cricketer (1906–1955)

## Similar surnames

Forbes, Forbis, Forbush, Forbus, Farabaugh.

## How to read these numbers

A Census count is people alive and counted in 2010, not births, and names occurring fewer than 100 times are not published at all. Ethnicity shares are the Census's own categories.