Surname Spotlight: Ferrier

Search old registers for Ferrier and you will soon meet Farrar too. The name is generally explained as “Smith, farrier”. Records show Ferrier as one of the forms Farrar took over time. Before spelling was standardised, one family could appear under several forms. Other spellings include Farrer.

Ferrier ranked 8,959 in the 2010 US Census, with 3,654 people answering to the name. It sits among the 10,000 most common last names in the country. INSEE counts 8,343 people born in France with the Ferrier surname between 1891 and 2000; the busiest decade was 1961–1970.

Arms linked to Farrar and its spellings were granted to individual families; our heraldry team traces which line they belonged to. Want more than a summary? See the Ferrier family name pack.