Fairlaw History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England
Ireland

Fairlaw is a name of ancient Anglo-Saxon origin and comes from the family once having lived in the region of Fairleigh or Fairley. The surname Fairlaw is a topographic surname, which was given to a person who resided near a physical feature such as a hill, stream, church, or type of tree. Habitation names form the other broad category of surnames that were derived from place-names.

Early Origins of the Fairlaw family

The surname Fairlaw was first found in Shropshire at Farlow, a small village and civil parish that dates back to the Domesday Book of 1086 where it was listed as Ferlau 1 and literally meant "fern-covered mound or hill" 2 from the Old English words "fearn" + "hlaw." Traditionally part of Herefordshire, it was part of the hundred of Stottesden. Farlow or Fawler is a chapelry, in the parish of Sparsholt, union of Farringdon, hundred of Shrivenham in Berkshire. 3

Early History of the Fairlaw family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Fairlaw research. Another 55 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Fairlaw History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Fairlaw Spelling Variations

Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Fairlaw family name include Farlow, Farlough and others.

Early Notables of the Fairlaw family

More information is included under the topic Early Fairlaw Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Fairlaw family to Ireland

Some of the Fairlaw family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 52 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Migration of the Fairlaw family

For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, Canada, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Fairlaw surname or a spelling variation of the name include: Alexander Farlow who settled in Virginia in 1654; Isiah, James and Robert Farlow arrived in Pennsylvania between 1844 and 1854; Joyce and Grace Farloe settled in Virginia in 1648..

Citations +

Williams, Dr Ann. And G.H. Martin, Eds., Domesday Book A Complete Translation. London: Penguin, 1992. Print. (ISBN 0-141-00523-8)
Mills, A.D., Dictionary of English Place-Names. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1991. Print. (ISBN 0-19-869156-4)
Lewis, Samuel, A Topographical Dictionary of England. Institute of Historical Research, 1848, Print.