Forrest (surname)

Forrest is a surname of English and Scottish origins. This name derives from the Old French "forest" (Latin "foreste(m)", a derivative of "foris" meaning "outside"). The word was introduced by the Normans, and referred to a Royal Forest. Variants include Forest, De Forest, De Forrest, DeForest and DeForrest. Forrest is associated with Clan Forrester and Clan Douglas. Variants of the name are first recorded in England in the early 13th century. Hugh de Foresta is mentioned in the Curia Regis rolls in 1204. There was a Templar knight, Guy de Foresta, who was Master of the Temple, n 1290–1294. One Adam ate forest appears in the Subsidy Rolls of Kent in 1300. In Scotland the name is first mentioned in the Morton Register of 1376 where William de Forest is found in Newlands, Scottish Borders. Morgan de Forest is found in Aberdeen in 1402, and a William of Forest was physician to the Queen in 1430. In 1505 John Forrest is recorded as succeeding his father John as owner of Gamelshiel castle in East Lothian. The name is first recorded in Ireland in 1566 where Piers Forest was a merchant in Cork. The Forrest baronets of Comiston in Edinburgh had a coat of arms containing three oak trees and the motto "vivunt dum virent" (they live while green). The prominent pioneer family of Western Australia, including Sir John Forrest, also have this motto and similar arms in their history.[1]