Forbes is a surname. It derives from the Scottish Clan Forbes (after a toponym, from Gaelic forba "field"). Descendants of the Scottish clan are also present in Ireland from the 17th century. The name of an unrelated Irish sept, Mac Fhirbhisigh or MacFirbis, was also anglicised as Forbes.
Notable people with the surname Forbes include:
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)
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)
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
Forbes family, a wealthy extended American family originating in Boston, descended from John Forbes (1740–1783), an Anglican clergyman of Strathdon, Aberdeenshire, recorded in Milton, Massachusetts by 1769.
James Grant Forbes (1879–1955), American businessman
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)
George Forbes (businessman) (born 1945), 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
Kiernan Forbes (born 1988), South African hip hop musician
China Forbes (born 1970), American singer and songwriter
Derek Forbes (born 1956), Scottish singer and musician
Elizabeth Forbes (musicologist) (1924–2014), critic and musicologist
Elliot Forbes (1917–2006), conductor and musicologist
Bryan Forbes (1926–2013), English film director, actor and writer
Maya Forbes (born 1968), American producer and director
Michelle Forbes (born 1965), American actress
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) (born 1923)
John Murray Forbes (diplomat) (1771–1831), American diplomat
Michael Forbes (born 1952), American politician
Peter W. Forbes (born 1850), Canadian-born member of the California legislature
Randy Forbes (born 1952), American politician in US House of Representatives
William Henry Forbes (1815–1875), American territorial legislator
Forbes family (publishers)
B. C. Forbes (1880–1954), founder of Forbes magazine
Christopher Forbes, 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
Tim Forbes, brother of Steve, also worked for the company
David McHattie Forbes (1863–1937), Scottish botanist and ethnologist in Hawai'i
Edward Forbes (1815–1854), British naturalist
Francis Blackwell Forbes (1839–1908), American merchant and botanist in China
George Forbes (scientist) (1849–1936), scientist
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
Stephen Alfred Forbes (1844–1930), American entomologist and ecologist
William Alexander Forbes (1855–1883), British zoologist
William Trowbridge Merrifield Forbes (1885–1968), American entomologist
Alex Forbes (born 1925), retired Scottish footballer
Elizabeth Forbes (athlete) (1910–2002), New Zealand track and field athlete
Fred Forbes (born 1894), Scottish footballer
Gary Forbes (born 1985), Panamanian/American basketball player
Harry Forbes (1879–1946), American boxer
Harry Forbes, rugby player
Ross Forbes (born 1989), Scottish footballer who plays for Motherwell
Terrell Forbes (born 1981), British footballer
W. J. Forbes (1874–1900), American college sports coach
Archibald Forbes (1838–1900), British war correspondent
Esther Forbes (1891–1967), American novelist and children's writer
Moira Forbes (born 1979), American journalist
Colin Forbes (novelist), pseudonym of British novelist Raymond Harold Sawkins
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
Kristin Forbes (born 1970), American economist
Norman Hay Forbes (1863–1916), British doctor and academic
Rosemary Forbes Kerry (1913–2002), American activist and mother of John Kerry
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 McAllister is a fictional character (a "cynical restaurant critic") from Knowing Me, Knowing You... with Alan Partridge (1994).
