Scottish: from an Anglicized form of the Gaelic personal name
Fearsithe, composed of the elements fear ‘man’ +
sith ‘peace’. Some early forms with prepositions, as for
example William de Fersith (Edinburgh 1365), seem to point to
an alternative origin as a habitational name, but no place name of
suitable form is known. The spelling Forsythe is associated
chiefly with northern Ireland.
Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4
Start your FREE family tree. Who will you discover?
A family tree is the easiest way to start discovering your family history. To begin, just enter whatever you know and we'll use that to try and find more information for you.
Begin your family tree with your name:
The forsythe name in History
A unique volume of fascinating facts, statistics and commentary following the forsythe family name as far back in history as possible.
Member Connections
Anonymously contact one of the Ancestry members researching the forsythe last name.