Fairfax (name)

Fairfax is both a surname of English (Yorkshire and Northumberland, with a few branches later settling in Scotland) origin which means "fair hair",^[1] and a unisex given name. Notable people with the name include:

Surname:

• Alan Fairfax (1906–1955), Australian cricketer
• Betty Fairfax (1918–2010), American educator, counselor, and philanthropist
• Cerina Fairfax (1977–2026), American dentist and Second Lady of Virginia
• Daphne Fairfax, British comedian
• Edward Fairfax (c. 1580–1635), English translator
• Henry Fairfax (Royal Navy officer) (1837–1900), British Admiral and Naval Commander K.C.B., F.R.G.S.,
• James Fairfax (1933–2017), Australian businessman and philanthropist
• Jean E. Fairfax (1920–2019), American educator, civil rights worker, community organizer, and philanthropist
• John Fairfax (disambiguation), name of several notable people

• John Fairfax (delegate) (1762–1843), manager for George Washington
• John Fairfax (minister) (1623–1700), English ejected minister
• John Fairfax, 11th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1830–1900), British peer with American citizenship
• John Fairfax (poet) (1930–2009), English poet
• John Fairfax (rower) (1937–2012), British ocean rower and adventurer

• Justin Fairfax (1979–2026), American lawyer and politician, Lieutenant Governor of Virginia (2018–2022)
• Lance Fairfax (1894–1974), New Zealand baritone in Australia
• Lettice Fairfax (1876–1948)
• Michael Fairfax (born 1953), English sculptor
• Nathaniel Fairfax (1637–1690), English divine and physician
• Robert Fairfax (disambiguation), several people:

• Robert Fairfax, 7th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1707–1793)
• Robert Fairfax (Royal Navy officer) (1666–1725)
• Robert Fayrfax (1464–1521), English Renaissance composer

• Ruth Fairfax (1878–1948), first president of the Queensland Country Women's Association
• Russell Fairfax (born 1952), Australian rugby league footballer
• Thomas Fairfax (1612–1671), 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron, parliamentarian general in the English Civil War
• Thomas Fairfax (d. 1520) (c. 1475–1520), 16th-century owner of Gilling Castle, North Yorkshire
• Warwick Oswald Fairfax, (1901–1987), Australian businessman, journalist and playwright
• Warwick Fairfax (born 1960), Australian businessman, son of W. O. Fairfax
• William Fairfax (1691–1757), 18th-century colonial official and plantation owner in Virginia
• William George Fairfax (1739–1813), a vice-admiral in the Royal Navy
• Lord Fairfax of Cameron (multiple individuals), a title in the Peerage of Scotland
• Viscount Fairfax of Emley (multiple individuals), a title in the Peerage of Ireland

Given name:

• Fairfax M. Cone (1903–1977), American businessman
• Fairfax Downey (1893–1990), American writer and military historian
• Fairfax Fenwick (1852–1920), New Zealand cricketer
• Fairfax Harrison (1869–1938), American president of Southern Railway and author
• Sir Fairfax Moresby (1786–1877), Royal Navy officer

Fictional characters:

• Gavin Fairfax, a character played by John D. Collins on the British sitcom series 'Allo 'Allo!
• Colonel Fairfax, a character in the Gilbert and Sullivan comic opera The Yeomen of the Guard.
• Mrs. Fairfax, a character in Charlotte Brontë's novel Jane Eyre
• Jane Fairfax, a character in Jane Austen's novel Emma
• Gwendolyn Fairfax, a character in Oscar Wilde's play The Importance of Being Earnest
• Abigail Fairfax, a character from the 2022 adventure comedy film The Lost City, who is an egotistical, eccentric billionaire seeking to find the treasure of the eponymous lost city.

See also

• Fairfax (disambiguation)

References

1. Sims, Clifford Stanley (1862). The Origin and Signification of Scottish Surnames. With a Vocabulary of Christian Names. Albany, New York: J. Munsell. p. 43. OCLC 1060940902 – via Internet Archive.