Forbes is a surname and a rare given name. The surname derives from the Scottish Clan Forbes (after a toponym, from Gaelic forba "field"). Descendants of the Scottish clan have also been present in Ireland since the 17th century. The name of an unrelated Irish sept, Mac Fhirbhisigh or MacFirbis, was also anglicised as Forbes.
Notable people with the name include:
Contents
Aristocracy
Clan Forbes, descendants of Alexander de Forbes, 1st Lord Forbes (c. 1380–1448): see Lord Forbes, Lord Forbes of Pitsligo
Nigel Forbes, 22nd Lord Forbes (1918–2013), Scottish soldier, businessman and politician
Forbes baronets of the Baronetage of Nova Scotia: four distinct baronetcies for people called Forbes:
Forbes, later Stuart-Forbes, of Monymusk, created 1626 for William Forbes (died c. 1650)
Sir William Forbes, 6th Baronet (1739–1806)
Forbes, of Castle Forbes, created 1628 for Arthur Forbes (1590–1632): see Earl of Granard
Forbes, of Craigievar, created 1630 for William Forbes (died 1648)
Sir Ewan Forbes, 11th Baronet (1912–1991)
Isabella Forbes, Lady Forbes (1913–2002), wife of Sir Ewan
Forbes of Foveran, created 1700 for Samuel Forbes (c. 1663 – 1717), extinct with the death of the 3rd baronet, John Forbes, c. 1760
Forbes baronets of Newe in the County of Aberdeen, created 1823 for Charles Forbes (1774–1849).
Hamish Forbes, 7th Baronet (1916–2007
Artists
Edwin Forbes (1839–1895), American landscape painter, etcher, and war artist during the American Civil War
Elizabeth Forbes (artist) (1859–1912), Canadian artist
Stanhope Forbes (1857–1947), Irish painter
Businesspeople
Forbes family, a wealthy extended Canadian/American Family descended from John Forbes (1740–1783), an Anglican clergyman of Strathdon, Aberdeenshire, recorded in Milton, Massachusetts, by 1769
Robert Pierce Forbes (born 1958), American historian
William Cameron Forbes (1870–1959), American investment banker and diplomat, Governor-General of the Philippines (1908–13), US Ambassador to Japan (1930–32) and namesake of Forbes Park gated community
George Forbes (businessman) (1944–2022), Scottish businessman
James Staats Forbes (1823–1904), Scottish railway engineer, administrator, businessman and art collector
John Murray Forbes (1813–1898), American businessman and philanthropist
Walter Forbes, American executive and convicted fraudster
Musicians
China Forbes (born 1970), American singer and songwriter
Derek Forbes (born 1956), Scottish singer and musician
Elizabeth Forbes (musicologist) (1924–2014), English critic and musicologist
Elliot Forbes (1917–2006), American conductor and musicologist
Kiernan Forbes (1988–2023), South African hip hop musician
Watson Forbes (1909–1997), Scottish musician, viola specialist
Performers and affiliated professions
Brenda Forbes (1909–1996), British-born American actress
Bryan Forbes (1926–2013), English film director, actor and writer
Mary Forbes (1883–1974), British-American actress
Maya Forbes (born 1968), American producer and director
Michelle Forbes (born 1965), American actress
Ralph Forbes (1904–1952), English actor
Politicians
Archie Forbes (1913–1999), Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture & Cooperative Development in Tanganyika (1960–1963)
Frederick Augustus Forbes (1818–1878), Australian politician
George Forbes (New Zealand politician) (1869–1947), Prime Minister of New Zealand from 1930 to 1935
George L. Forbes (born 1931), American politician
Jim Forbes (Australian politician) (1923–2019), Australian soldier and politician
John Murray Forbes (diplomat) (1771–1831), American diplomat
Kate Forbes (born 1990), Scottish politician who is currently the Deputy First Minister of Scotland
Michael Forbes (politician) (born 1952), American politician
Muriel Forbes (1894–1991), British politician
Peter W. Forbes (1850–1923), Canadian-born member of the California legislature
Ralph Perry Forbes (1940–2018), American neo-Nazi and Arkansas political candidate
Randy Forbes (born 1952), American politician in US House of Representatives
Thelma Forbes (1910–2012), Canadian politician in Manitoba
William Henry Forbes (c.1815–1875), American territorial legislator
Publishers
Forbes family (publishers), an American family
B. C. Forbes (1880–1954), founder of Forbes magazine
Christopher Forbes (born 1950), American vice-chairman of the Forbes Publishing Company
Malcolm Forbes (1919–1990), publisher of Forbes magazine, son of B. C.
Steve Forbes (born 1947), American businessman, current publisher of Forbes Magazine
Scientists
David McHattie Forbes (1863–1937), Scottish botanist and ethnologist in Hawai'i
Edward Forbes (1815–1854), British naturalist
Fayette F. Forbes (1851–1935), American water engineer, plant collector, and botanist
Francis Blackwell Forbes (1839–1908), American merchant and botanist in China
George Forbes (scientist) (1849–1936), Scottish electrical engineer, astronomer, explorer, author and inventor
Gregory S. Forbes (born 1950), American meteorologist
Henry Ogg Forbes (1851–1932), British ornithologist, botanist and museum director
James David Forbes (1809–1868), Scottish physicist and glaciologist
John Forbes (1798–1823), English botanist
John J. Forbes (1885–1975), American mining engineer
Stephen Alfred Forbes (1844–1930), American entomologist and ecologist
William Alexander Forbes (1855–1883), British zoologist
William Trowbridge Merrifield Forbes (1885–1968), American entomologist
John Forbes Nash Jr. (1928–2015), American mathematician; Economic Science's Nobel Prize awarded in 1994
Sportspeople
Alex Forbes (1925–2014), Scottish footballer
Bryn Forbes (born 1993), American basketball player
Colin Forbes (ice hockey) (born 1976), Canadian ice hockey player
Drew Forbes (born 1997), American football player
Elizabeth Forbes (athlete) (1910–2002), New Zealand track and field athlete
Emmanuel Forbes (born 2001), American football player
Fred Forbes (1894-after 1933), Scottish footballer
Gary Forbes (born 1985), Panamanian-born American basketball player
Gordon Forbes (1934–2020), South African tennis player
Harry Forbes (boxer) (1879–1946), American boxer
Harry Forbes (rugby league), Australian rugby player and coach
McKenzie Forbes (born 2000), American basketball player
Melanie Forbes (born 1999), Canadian soccer player
Ross Forbes (born 1989), Scottish footballer who plays for Motherwell
Tatyana Forbes (born 1997), American softball player
Terrell Forbes (born 1981), British footballer
W. J. Forbes (1874–1900), American college sports coach
Writers
Archibald Forbes (1838–1900), British war correspondent
Colin Forbes (novelist), pseudonym of British novelist Raymond Harold Sawkins
Edith Willis Linn Forbes (1865–1945), American poet and writer
Esther Forbes (1891–1967), American novelist and children's writer
Lani Forbes (1987–2022), American author of young adult fantasy novels
Mihingarangi Forbes, New Zealand journalist, presenter and radio broadcaster
Moira Forbes (born 1979), American journalist
Others
Jack D. Forbes (1934 – 2011), American historian, writer, scholar, and political activist
James Forbes (1749–1819), British traveller and artist
James A. Forbes, American clergyman
John Forbes (British Army officer) (1707–1759), British general in the French and Indian War
Sir John Forbes (1925–2021), British admiral
Kristin Forbes (born 1970), American economist
Michael Forbes (farmer), Scottish farmer
Norman Hay Forbes (1863–1916), British doctor and academic
Rosemary Forbes Kerry (1913–2002), American activist and mother of John Kerry
Given name
Forbes as a given name is rare, mostly known due to Forbes Burnham (full name Linden Forbes Sampson Burnham , 1923–1985), leader of Guyana from 1964 until his death.
Forbes Kennedy (born 1935) is a Canadian former ice hockey player.
Forbes McAllister is a fictional character (a "cynical restaurant critic") from Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge (1994).