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

Fyffe, 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 Fyffe surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Fyffe in America

Fyffe is the 12637th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Fyffe surname appeared 2,449 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 Fyffe.

We can also compare 2010 data for Fyffe 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 Fyffe

The surname Fyffe originated in Scotland and can be traced back to the 12th century. It is derived from the Old French word "fif", meaning a military fifer or piper. This suggests that the earliest bearers of the name may have been pipers or musicians in the Scottish military.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Ragman Rolls of 1296, a record of Scottish nobles who swore allegiance to King Edward I of England. The name appears as "Fif" and "Fyfe", indicating that the spelling was not yet standardized.

In the 14th century, the name was associated with the town of Fife in Scotland, and it's likely that some bearers of the name took it as a locational surname. Fife itself is derived from the Gaelic word "fib", meaning "refuge" or "shelter".

Notable people with the surname Fyffe include Robert Fyffe (1578-1643), a Scottish theologian and author; James Fyffe (1697-1758), a Scottish merchant and landowner; and Alexander Fyffe (1816-1892), a Scottish-American painter known for his portraits and landscapes.

In the 17th century, the name appears in the records of the Massachusetts Bay Colony in New England, indicating that some bearers of the name had emigrated from Scotland to the American colonies. One such individual was John Fyffe (1620-1678), a Scottish immigrant who settled in Ipswich, Massachusetts.

Another notable bearer of the name was Sir David Fyffe (1770-1849), a Scottish lawyer and Judge of the Court of Session in Edinburgh. He was also a Member of Parliament for the Inverness Burghs constituency.

As the name spread throughout Scotland and beyond, various spellings emerged, including Fyfe, Fife, Fiffe, and Fyffe. However, the latter spelling became the most common in the 19th and 20th centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Fyffe

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

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

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

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