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

Ferebee, 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 Ferebee surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Ferebee in America

Ferebee is the 15827th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Ferebee surname appeared 1,839 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 1 people would have the surname Ferebee.

We can also compare 2010 data for Ferebee 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.

The history of the last name Ferebee

The surname Ferebee is believed to have originated in England during the medieval period. It is thought to be derived from the Old English words "feor" meaning far and "bec" meaning stream or brook. This suggests that the name may have referred to someone who lived near or by a distant stream.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Domesday Book of 1086, which mentions a landowner named Ferebec in the county of Norfolk. This provides evidence that the surname was already in use by the late 11th century.

During the 13th century, the name appears in various spellings such as Ferbec, Ferbeck, and Ferbeke in historical records from the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk, and Essex. These variations in spelling were common during the Middle Ages before standardized spellings became more widespread.

The surname Ferebee may also have connections to certain place names in England. For instance, the village of Ferbeck in Yorkshire could be related to the name's origins, although the exact link is unclear.

Among notable individuals who bore the surname Ferebee throughout history, one can mention:

1. William Ferebee (c. 1520 - 1599), an English politician and Member of Parliament for the borough of Thetford in Norfolk.
2. John Ferebee (c. 1590 - 1659), an English military officer who served during the English Civil War.
3. Thomas Ferebee (1638 - 1677), an English navigator and explorer who was one of the earliest settlers of the Albemarle region in what is now North Carolina.
4. Henry Ferebee (1786 - 1838), an American planter and politician who served as a member of the Virginia House of Delegates.
5. Dennis Ferebee (1920 - 2003), an American aviator who served as a bombardier in the United States Army Air Forces during World War II and participated in the famous Doolittle Raid on Tokyo in 1942.

While the surname Ferebee is not among the most common in the English-speaking world, its history can be traced back to medieval England, where it likely originated as a topographic name referring to someone living near a distant stream or brook.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Ferebee

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

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 Ferebee was:

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 Ferebee has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

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 Ferebee was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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