Fearrington last name popularity, history, and meaning

Find out how popular the last name Fearrington is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Fearrington.

Meaning of Fearrington

Derived from an English place name, referring to someone from Fearrington or a similar location.

Fearrington, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Fearrington surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Fearrington in America

Fearrington is the 51830th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Fearrington surname appeared 401 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Fearrington.

We can also compare 2010 data for Fearrington to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

2010 2000 Change (%)
Rank 51830 55124 -6.16%
Count 401 349 13.87%
Proportion per 100k 0.14 0.13 7.41%

The history of the last name Fearrington

The surname Fearrington is believed to originate from England, specifically in the county of Northamptonshire, during the medieval period. It is derived from the Old English words "fearn" meaning fern and "tun" meaning town or settlement. This suggests that the name likely referred to a settlement or village located in an area abundant with ferns.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Hundred Rolls of 1273, which lists a William de Feryngton. This spelling variation indicates that the name was already in use by the 13th century and may have evolved from an even older form.

In the Domesday Book of 1086, there is a reference to a place called "Feringtone" in Northamptonshire, which is believed to be the original location associated with the surname. The name has also been linked to the village of Farthinghoe, formerly known as "Ferendun" or "Ferentone" in the 11th century.

Notable individuals throughout history who bore the surname Fearrington include:

  1. Sir John Fearrington (c. 1450-1517), an English landowner and Member of Parliament for Northamptonshire in the early 16th century.
  2. Thomas Fearrington (1595-1663), an English merchant and colonist who settled in Virginia in the early days of the British colonization of America.
  3. Elizabeth Fearrington (1701-1777), a prominent Quaker leader and activist in colonial Pennsylvania.
  4. William Fearrington (1822-1891), an American Civil War veteran who served in the Union Army and later became a farmer and landowner in North Carolina.
  5. Emily Fearrington (1867-1942), an American educator and advocate for women's rights, known for establishing one of the first schools for girls in North Carolina.

The name Fearrington has also been associated with various place names over the centuries. For example, there is a village called Fearrington in Durham County, North Carolina, which was founded in the late 18th century and likely named after an early settler with the surname.

While the surname Fearrington is not among the most common in the English-speaking world, it has a rich history spanning several centuries and can be traced back to its origins in medieval England.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Fearrington

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Fearrington.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

  1. White only
  2. Black only
  3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
  4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
  5. Hispanic
  6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Fearrington was:

Race/Ethnicity Percentage Total Occurrences
Non-Hispanic White Only 30.42% 122
Non-Hispanic Black Only 60.60% 243
Non-Hispanic Asian and Pacific Islander Only (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)
Non-Hispanic of Two or More Races 3.49% 14
Hispanic Origin 4.74% 19

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Fearrington has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

2010 2000 Change (%)
White 30.42% 38.68% -23.91%
Black 60.60% 57.59% 5.09%
Asian and Pacific Islander (S)% (S)% (S)%
American Indian and Alaskan Native (S)% (S)% (S)%
Two or More Races 3.49% 1.43% 83.74%
Hispanic 4.74% 1.43% 107.29%

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Fearrington was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Fearrington, please contact us.

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"Fearrington last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com. Accessed on November 22, 2024. http://namecensus.com/last-names/fearrington-surname-popularity/.

"Fearrington last name popularity, history, and meaning". NameCensus.com, http://namecensus.com/last-names/fearrington-surname-popularity/. Accessed 22 November, 2024

Fearrington last name popularity, history, and meaning. NameCensus.com. Retrieved from http://namecensus.com/last-names/fearrington-surname-popularity/.

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