Farquhar is the English form of the Gaelic personal name Fearchar, built from fear, “man,” and car, “loving” or “beloved.” As a surname it is at home in northeast Scotland, and a man named Farquhar gave his name to one of the best-known Highland clans, the Farquharsons of Braemar.
Fearchar, the “beloved man”
The Dictionary of American Family Names explains Farquhar as an anglicized form of Gaelic Fearchar or a shortened form of Mac Fhearchair, “son of Fearchar,” and classes it as Scottish and northern Irish. Fearchar was a long-established personal name in Gaelic Scotland. Its most famous medieval holder was Fearchar mac an t-Sagairt, “Farquhar son of the priest,” who became earl of Ross in the thirteenth century. According to the Clan Ross Association, he was the son of the lay parson of the monastery of Applecross, captured and executed rebels against Alexander II in 1215, was knighted for it and was created earl of Ross around 1226. He died in 1251 and was buried at Fearn Abbey near Tain, where a warrior’s effigy is said to mark his grave.
Because the name was used as a forename for centuries, the surname could arise wherever a man called Fearchar or Farquhar had descendants. Some families kept the plain personal name as their surname; others added a Gaelic or English “son” element and became MacKerchar, MacFarquhar or Farquharson.
Farquhar and the Farquharsons of the Braes of Mar
The link between Farquhar and Farquharson is direct. According to the Clan Farquharson society, the clan takes its name from Farquhar, fourth son of Alexander “Ciar” Mackintosh of Rothiemurchus, fifth chief of Clan Shaw. Farquhar settled in the Braes of Mar, in upper Deeside, and was appointed bailie or chamberlain there. His descendants became the Farquharsons, later centered on Invercauld near Braemar and counted among the Highland clans of the upper Dee.
That origin explains why Farquhar and Farquharson are both so strongly associated with Aberdeenshire. Not every Farquhar family descends from the Braemar clan, since the personal name was widely used, but the clan’s founder gives the surname its best-known Highland story.
A northeast surname
The surname is found above all in Aberdeenshire, Kincardineshire and Angus, the country between the Dee and the Tay. Farquhars were lairds, ministers, merchants and farmers across the northeast, and the name traveled south to Edinburgh and London with Scottish professional families in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
William Farquhar and the founding of Singapore
The Farquhar who left the deepest mark overseas came from Kincardineshire. William Farquhar, son of Robert Farquhar of Newhall, was baptized at Fetteresso on 19 March 1774. He joined the East India Company, sailed for India in 1791 and served in the Madras Engineers before taking a senior post in Malacca.
In 1819 he worked with Sir Stamford Raffles to establish the British trading settlement at Singapore and became its first Resident and Commandant, running the new settlement through its first years. He also assembled a celebrated collection of natural history drawings of the plants and animals of the Malay Peninsula. Farquhar returned to Scotland, married Margaret Loban in 1828, rose to major-general in 1837 and died at Early Bank near Perth on 13 May 1839.
George Farquhar and the Restoration stage
The name also reached the London theater through Ireland. George Farquhar, born in Londonderry in the late 1670s, became one of the liveliest comic dramatists of his age. His plays The Recruiting Officer (1706) and The Beaux’ Stratagem (1707) are still performed, and he died in London in 1707, shortly after the second of them opened.
Researching a Farquhar family
For Scottish lines, begin with the parish registers of Aberdeenshire, Kincardineshire and Angus, and use testaments and sasines to follow landed families such as the Farquhars of Newhall. Highland families may appear as Farquharson, MacFarquhar or Fearchar in different records, and one family can move between them. Statutory registers from 1855 give parents’ names and occupations.
The Farquhar name appears on our woven blanket, accent mug and ceramic ornament. Explore our Farquhar Scottish family gifts.
Frequently asked questions
What does the name Farquhar mean?
It comes from Gaelic Fearchar, from fear, “man,” and car, “loving” or “beloved.”
Is Farquhar related to Farquharson?
They share a personal-name root. Farquharson means “son of Farquhar,” and the Farquharson clan takes its name from Farquhar, son of Alexander Mackintosh of Rothiemurchus, who settled in the Braes of Mar.
Where in Scotland is the Farquhar name most common?
In the northeast, especially Aberdeenshire, Kincardineshire and Angus.
Which Farquhar helped found Singapore?
William Farquhar (1774–1839), from Kincardineshire, who became Singapore’s first Resident and Commandant in 1819.