Fairs

This interesting and unusual name is a variant of Fair which is a personal name of pre 8th Century Anglo-Saxon origin which does mean what it says, "the fair or beautiful one". It derives from the Old German "Faeger" and was equally popular in its different spellings in England, Norway, Denmark and Sweden and was also taken up with enthusiasm by the Norman invaders of 1066. The variant spellings include Faire, Fayre, Faers, Fayer, Fyers, Phair and Phayre. The early recordings include Robert Faier, in the Suffolk Court Rolls of 1191, Henry le Vayre in the Duchy of Cornwall Accounts for 1297, Dorothy Fayre (1573, Stepney), Elizabeth Faire (1616, London) and Abraham Fair (1799, London). One Robert Faires married Anne Flaws on June 2nd 1696 at St. Dunstan's, Stepney, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Edeua Faira, which was dated 1086, in the Domesday Book of Middlesex, during the reign of King William 1, known as "The Conqueror", 1066 - 1087. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.