Contents [hide]

Fordyce History Early Origins Early History Spelling Variations Early Notables Ranking

Ireland United States Canada Australia New Zealand West Indies

Contemporary Notables Related Stories Citations

Fordyce History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
Scotland
Ireland

While the family hails from Fordyce, Banffshire, Scotland, the name dates back to the 13th century when the name literally meant "the South Woodland [O.Gael, fothir (th mute) (= Irish folhar) =ictish for, woodland; Gaelic deas, south]." 1

Another source explains in more detail: " The name of this place, which appears to have undergone no orthographical variation since the most ancient times, is supposed to be derived from the two Gaelic words fuar, cold, and deas, south, which, from their original appropriation as descriptive of the southern portion of the parish, have been subsequently used as an appellation for the whole of it. The lands once belonged to the family of Sinclair, but afterwards came into that of Ogilvie, in which they have remained for about 400 years to the present time." 2

Early Origins of the Fordyce family

The surname Fordyce was first found in Banffshire (Gaelic: Siorrachd Bhanbh), former Scottish county located in the northeasterly Grampian region of Scotland, now of divided between the Council Areas of Moray and Aberdeenshire, where they held the lands of Fordyce in a parish of that same name. 3

One of the first records of the family was "John Fordise was vicar of Athy, 1460, and Johannes Fordys, perhaps the same person, was vicar of Garvok, 1464." 3 The Fordyces were a sept of the Clan Forbes from which they inherited the three muzzled bears heads on their coat of arms. For difference, the Forbes Clan has three silver bears' heads on a blue shield.

Early History of the Fordyce family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Fordyce research. Another 181 words (13 lines of text) covering the years 1460, 1464, 1541, 1567, 1574, 1608, 1659, 1690, 1702, 1711, 1720, 1724, 1736, 1743, 1751, 1763, 1764, 1765, 1789, 1792, 1796 and 1802 are included under the topic Early Fordyce History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Fordyce Spelling Variations

Spelling variations of this family name include: Fordyce, Fordise, Fordys, Fordyce, Foirdyse, Foirdyse and many more.

Early Notables of the Fordyce family

Notable amongst the Clan at this time was

Alexander Fordyce (d. 1789), Scottish banker, youngest son of Provost Fordyce of Aberdeen, and brother to David, James, and William Fordyce. In London, he became the most active partner in the firm of...
David Fordyce (1711-1751), was a professor at Aberdeen, born at Broadford, near Aberdeen, and baptised 1 April 1711, and was the second son of George Fordyce of Broadford, provost of Aberdeen
George Fordyce (1736-1802), the Scottish physician, born at Aberdeen on 18 Nov. 1736, was the only and posthumous son of George Fordyce of Broadford, a small property near that city. His father was on...

Fordyce Ranking

In the United States, the name Fordyce is the 10,916^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 4

Migration of the Fordyce family to Ireland

Some of the Fordyce family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 30 words (2 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Fordyce migration to the United States +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Fordyce Settlers in United States in the 19th Century

Janet Dingwall, Magdelen Dingwall and Mary Arbuthnott Fordyce also, who settled in Wellington County
William Dingwall Fordyce, who landed in Charleston South Carolina in 1830 5
D D Fordyce, who landed in San Francisco, California in 1851 5

Fordyce migration to Canada +

Some of the first settlers of this family name were:

Fordyce Settlers in Canada in the 19th Century

Alexander Dingwall Fordyce, who settled in Wellington County, Ontario, Canada in 1836

Fordyce migration to Australia +

Emigration to Australia followed the First Fleets of convicts, tradespeople and early settlers. Early immigrants include:

Fordyce Settlers in Australia in the 19th Century

John Fordyce, Scottish convict from Aberdeen, who was transported aboard the "Asia" on September 3rd, 1820, settling in New South Wales, Australia 6

Fordyce migration to New Zealand +

Emigration to New Zealand followed in the footsteps of the European explorers, such as Captain Cook (1769-70): first came sealers, whalers, missionaries, and traders. By 1838, the British New Zealand Company had begun buying land from the Maori tribes, and selling it to settlers, and, after the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, many British families set out on the arduous six month journey from Britain to Aotearoa to start a new life. Early immigrants include:

Fordyce Settlers in New Zealand in the 19th Century

Thomas Fordyce, who arrived in Auckland, New Zealand aboard the ship "Zealandia" in 1861
Mary Fordyce, who arrived in Auckland, New Zealand aboard the ship "Zealandia" in 1861

Fordyce migration to West Indies +

The British first settled the British West Indies around 1604. They made many attempts but failed in some to establish settlements on the Islands including Saint Lucia and Grenada. By 1627 they had managed to establish settlements on St. Kitts (St. Christopher) and Barbados, but by 1641 the Spanish had moved in and destroyed some of these including those at Providence Island. The British continued to expand the settlements including setting the First Federation in the British West Indies by 1674; some of the islands include Barbados, Bermuda, Cayman Island, Turks and Caicos, Jamaica and Belize then known as British Honduras. By the 1960's many of the islands became independent after the West Indies Federation which existed from 1958 to 1962 failed due to internal political conflicts. After this a number of Eastern Caribbean islands formed a free association. 7

Fordyce Settlers in West Indies in the 18th Century

John Fordyce, who arrived in Jamaica in 1730 5

Contemporary Notables of the name Fordyce (post 1700) +

John Addison Fordyce (1858-1925), American dermatologist who identified Fordyce's spot, Angiokeratoma of Fordyce, Brooke-Fordyce trichoepithelioma, Fordyce's disease, Fordyce's lesion, and Fox-Fordyce disease
Samuel W. Fordyce (1840-1919), American railroad executive, President of St. Louis, Arkansas and Texas Railway (1886-1889), President of St. Louis Southwestern Railway (1890-1898) and President of Kansas City Southern Railway in 1900
Brook Fordyce (b. 1970), American Major League Baseball catcher who played from 1995 to 2004
William Dingwall Fordyce (1836-1875), Scottish Liberal politician, Member of Parliament for Aberdeenshire (1866-1868)
Sir William Fordyce (1724-1792), Scottish physician, brother of David Fordyce
David Fordyce (1711-1751), Scottish philosopher
Alexander Fordyce (d. 1789), Scottish banker involved in the bank run on Neal, James, Fordyce and Down in 1772
George Fordyce (1736-1802), Scottish physician, Fellow of the Royal Society and a Fellow of the Royal College of Physicians
James Fordyce (1720-1796), Scottish clergyman, compiler and primary author of Fordyce's Sermons
Robert Ewan Fordyce FRSNZ (1953-2023), New Zealand palaeontologist
... (Another 4 notables are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Citations +

Harrison, Henry, Surnames of the United Kingdom: A Concise Etymological Dictionary Baltimore: Geneological Publishing Company, 2013. Print
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of Scotland. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.
Black, George F., The Surnames of Scotland Their Origin, Meaning and History. New York: New York Public Library, 1946. Print. (ISBN 0-87104-172-3)
"What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
State Library of Queensland. (Retrieved 2016, October 27) Asia 1 voyage to Van Diemen's Land, Australia in 1820 with 192 passengers. Retrieved from http://www.convictrecords.com.au/ships/asia/1820
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/British_West_Indies