Fairchild Family History & Genealogy

History

This is a popular English surname. It was also one of the very first of all known surnames to be created, and recordings are known to exist which show that the name was in use at least one thousand years ago. It derives from the pre 7th century Olde English phrase 'faere-cild' and does actually mean what it says, a beautiful child. It was originally a baptismal name for a baby, and since all babies are beautiful to somebody, many children were so named. Like all such endearment names which include as examples Dear, Darling, and Wellbeloved, in time it became both a first name and a surname. As a first name it continued in popularity right into the 18th century and was particularly used by the Puritans and more extreme protestants along with such names as Charity and Prudence. The very first of all surname recordings is believed to be that of Lefui Faeger Cild in the register of the abbey of Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk in the year 1050 or thereabouts. A more conventional recording but still at the very beginings of hereditary surnames, is that of Robert Fairchild, in the tax rolls known as 'The fees,' for the county of Surrey in the year 1251.

Name Origin

Olde English phrase 'faere-cild' and does actually mean what it says, a beautiful child.

Spellings & Pronunciations

We don't have any alternate spellings or pronunciation information on the Fairchild name. Have information to share?

Nationality & Ethnicity

England

Famous People named Fairchild

Fairchild family, descendants of Thomas Fairchild (1610–1670), son of William Fairchild (b.1577 in Essex England)
Barbara Fairchild, American country and gospel singer/songwriter from Knobel, Arkansas
Benjamin L. Fairchild (1863–1946), five-time New York State Republican Congressman
Caitlin Fairchild, fictional Gen 13 comic book heroine
Cassius Fairchild (1829–1868), Wisconsin Democrat Party Leader and Union Army Colonel, U.S. Civil War
Charles Stebbins Fairchild (1842–1924), New York State Attorney General, 38th United States Secretary of Treasury
David Grandison Fairchild (1869–1954), pioneering industrial botanist, plant explorer, son-in-law of Alexander Graham Bell
David Fairchild (California politician) (1791-1866)
Edward Henry Fairchild (1815–1889), abolishionist educator, first President of Berea College, the first fully integrated southern university
Edward Thomas Fairchild (1872–1965), jurist, Wisconsin Supreme Court
Edward Thomson Fairchild (1854–1917), New Hampshire College of Agriculture and Mechanical Arts (U. of New Hampshire) President
Frank Fairchild Wesbrook (1868–1918), First University of British Columbia President.
Fred Rogers Fairchild (1877–1966), educator/economist, holder of Seymour Knox Chair Professor of Mathematical Institutional Economics (Emeritus) Yale University
George Thompson Fairchild (1838–1901), college educator, President of Michigan State University and Kansas State University
George Winthrop Fairchild (1854–1924), New York State Senator, Republican National Convention delegate, and co-founder of IBM
Alexander Graham Bell Fairchild (1906–1994), Harvard educated entomologist, and grandson of Alexander Graham Bell
Henry Pratt Fairchild (1880–1956), American sociologist, co-founder of Planned Parenthood
Herman LeRoy Fairchild (1850–1943), American geologist and college educator, early proponent of theorizing meteorite impact
Hiram Orlando Fairchild (1845–1925), Speaker of the Wisconsin State Assembly
Jim Fairchild American singer/songwriter guitarist, Band member of Modest Mouse
Jairus Cassius Fairchild (1801–1862), first Wisconsin State Treasurer, and first mayor of Madison, Wisconsin
John Russell Fairchild, Professional basketball player, drafted by the Los Angeles Lakers.
Karen Fairchild, singer in American Country band, Little Big Town.
LeRoy Fairchild, founded the Masonic order, the Mystic Order of Veiled Prophets of the Enchanted Realm in 1889
Lucius Fairchild (1831–1896), Civil War Brigadier General, three-term Governor of Wisconsin, U.S. Minister to Spain, Commander-in-Chief of the Grand Army of the Republic.
Lydia Fairchild, one of only 30 known worldwide cases of chimerism
Megan Fairchild, principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, from Salt Lake City, Utah
Morgan Fairchild, American actress from Dallas, Texas
Muir Stephen Fairchild (1894–1950), Four-star General, Vice Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force
Robert Fairchild, principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, soloist from Salt Lake City, Utah
Sherman Mills Fairchild (1896–1971), industrialist inventor, founder of Fairchild Aviation, Fairchild-Strato, Fairchild-Hiller, Fairchild Recording, and Fairchild Camera and Instrument
Thomas Edward Fairchild (1912–2007), Wisconsin Attorney General, appointed to Wisconsin Supreme Court and U.S. 7th Circuit Court of Appeals after losing the 1952 Wisconsin Senate race to Joseph McCarthy from "McCarthy-ism" fame.

Early Fairchilds

These are the earliest records we have of the Fairchild family.