# Fairlie (surname)

Fairlie is the Scottish surname, deriving from the village of Fairlie in North Ayrshire, Scotland. The surname has alternatively been spelled Fairley, Fairly, Fairle, Ffairlie, Ferly, Fferle, among other similar variations.

## History

The family name emerges in several different locations in Scotland: Fairlie in Ayrshire and the former lairdship of Braid in Midlothian (now within the City of Edinburgh).
The arms featured on this page are attributed to Alexander Fairlie of Braid (thrived circa 1549-1623) in The Crawford Armorial (folio 105), published circa 1599. Arms for other family members are often recorded with various heralrdric charges and bruises, like a ribbon sable or a star in dexter chief.
These undifferentiated arms are identical to those of the Earl of Fife and MacDuff. They are also quite similar to those of Powys. Alex Maxwell Findlater has speculated that this similarity points to an ancestry within ancient Fife while other myths speculated that the Fairlies of Braid, or a cadet branch of the family, descended from King Robert II. How that is possible is unclear, since a member of the line was a charter beneficiary of King Robert I.

## Motto

There are several mottos associated with Fairlies and recorded sets of arms. From the branch that descended from the family of Braid, the motto is recorded:
* "Paratus Sum" (Latin for "I am prepared").
* "I am readie".
Other Fairlies of Ayrshire, Falkland, and Myres have often preferred one of the following phrases:
* "Tak a thocht" (Scots for roughly "think on it").
* "Meditare" (Latin for "meditate/think").

## Etymology

The name originates in regions that were anciently populated by Gaelic and Cumbric-speakers. There is known to be a series of Brittonic kingdoms that stretched from modern Wales, through the west coast of England (Cumberland), through to the southern regions of modern Scotland (Lothian). These kingdoms would have shared some cultural traits like languages

### Definition in Scots

The old Scots definition of a fairlie is:
* A marvellous thing; a wonder.

### Possible origins in Gaelic

There are many possible origins of the surname, with fear/fir being a common denomination for a tribe of people and lí/leigh/laigh/laois/ being commonly found in place and people names throughout Ireland, Scotland, and England.
* There was a medieval tribe located in present-day County Londonderry called the Fir Lí ("People of Poem/Song/Lustre/Brightness") who may have given their name to the Ayrshire town Fairlie.
* Fear (man/manly) + leigh (healer).
* Fearn (alder) + lí (lustre/color).
If modern DNA testing results illustrate the lineage's origins in Ireland correctly, tt may also be possible that it is linguistically related to names of other Irish and Scottish clans, Ó Dálaigh or MacLea. Though no other immediate connection is confirmed, both of these clans share similarities in attributed arms and originating regions in Ireland.
It may also be related to the region named Farney.

### Possible origins in Cumbric

There is a similar word in Cumbric and Welsh fferllys/fferyl relating to a region of Elfael in Wales and/or pseudo-mythical figures meaning either:
* Chemist, Virgil.
* Craftsman/metallurgist.
Both the Scots and Cumbric phrases seem loosely related to the concept of a "wonder-worker".

### Proposed origins in Old English

It's commonly speculated that the Scottish name Fairlie and its variety of spellings originates from an old or middle-English phrase meaning some version of:
* Beautiful meadow.
* Far field.
* Fern-covered field/meadow.
* Sheep field.
* Boar field.
* Bull field.

## Coats of Arms

There are several recorded sets of arms for Fairlie of Braid. Due to the fact that some were published around the same time, they likely belong to various sons or cadets.
* Fairlie of Braid, Armorial of Sir David Lindsay of the Mount (Secondus; 1599)
* Fairlie of Braid, Forman's Armorial (1563)
* Fairlie of Braid, Queen Mary's Roll (1562)
* Fairlie of Braid, Slains Armorial (1565)
* Fairlie of Braid, Dunvegan Armorial (1600)
* Fairlie of Braid, Seton Armorial (1591)
* Fairlie of Braid, Nisbet's A System of Heraldry (1722)
* Fairlie of Bruntsfield, Lyon register (1672)

## Y-DNA Haplogroups

There were prominent Fairlie families in Ayrshire, Fife, and Lothian and like with many prominent families and other toponymic surnames of the British Isles there are a variety of peoples who have adopted the name over the centuries.
Known recorded Y-DNA haplogroups for Fairlie descendants are:
* R1b.
* L21.
* R-Z39589.
* R-ZZ33_1.
* R-ZP113.
* R-BY49942.
These markers indicate an Irish-Scots lineage, with representation in Ulster, Northern Leinster, Northern Connacht, Airgíalla, Ayrshire, Fife, and Lothian. These locales correlate with findings from the Irish DNA Atlas for Northern Ireland Type I and II genetic groupings' distribution patterns.

## Notable people

* Fairlie-Cuninghame baronets
* Andrew Fairlie (actor), Scottish actor
* Andrew Fairlie (chef), Scottish chef
* Brian Fairlie (born 1948), retired tennis player from New Zealand
* Charles Fairlie Dobbs (1872–1936), British Indian Army officer
* Gerard Fairlie (1899–1983), Scottish author and scriptwriter
* Henry Fairlie (1924–1990), British political journalist and social critic
* Jamie Fairlie (born 2 August 1957), former Scottish footballer
* Jim Fairlie (born 1940), Scottish politician and financial analyst
* John Archibald Fairlie (1872–1947), Scottish political scientist
* Kristin Fairlie (born 1985), Canadian actress
* Margaret Fairlie (1891–1963), Scottish academic and gynaecologist
* Peter Fairlie (born 1957), Scottish squash player
* Reginald Fairlie (1883–1952), Scottish architect
* Robert Francis Fairlie (born 1830/1831), Scottish railway engineer