A Scottish surname, Forbes comes from the Gaelic term ‘forba’ which means a certain location of a field. The spelling variations for Forbes include Forbeis, Forbose and Forbess. In northern England is where the majority of Forbes households are located. The counties with the most Forbes families are Yorkshire, Lancashire, Durham, Northumberland and south to the city of London and Middlesex county. In Scotland the early Forbes families settled in the Aberdeenshire. In the 17th through 19th centuries many from the country moved to Ireland and then to Canada, Australia, New Zealand and the United States. Within the United States the original Forbes families lived in South Carolina, New York, North Carolina, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania and Ohio. Famous: Bertie Charles Forbes (journalist and founder of Forbes Magazine in 1917), Robert Pierce Forbes (historian), Terrell Forbes (professional footballer from England), Fred Forbes (champion footballer from Scotland), Bryan Forbes (actor and film writer and director), Michelle Forbes (actress), Alex Forbes (champion footballer from Scotland), Edwin Forbes (19th century illustrator and artist during the American Civil War), Esther Forbes (author of children’s books) and China Forbes (singer and songwriter).