Reasons Why I Love my Last Name

   For the past twenty-one years I have struggled with people pronouncing my last name right, but that all ends today because I (Dani Fairbairn) am headed to Edinburgh, Scotland. My great-grandfather lived not too far from Edinburgh in the town Bathgate. He later adventured over to the good ol' USofA and brought with him a very non-American last name. But despite the monotonous struggle of explaining that it is FairbAIRn and not Fairburn, I still think I have a pretty cool name. And therefore I have decided to give you the top 7 reasons why I love my last name (and one reason why I hate it).

Top 7 Reasons Why I (Dani Fairbairn) Love My Last Name:

1. It's unique. Never have I met someone outside of my family who has my last name. (But i'm hoping to change that in Scotland)

2. My last name is Scottish. So basically I can wear a kilt and no one can make fun of me for it.

3. Fairbairn means beautiful child. What a compliment, right?

4. It is easy to spell. Contrary to popular belief my last name is not very complicated. If you really look at it, the spelling is rather repetitive.

At the Sherlock Holmes' Museum

5. The last name Fairbairn is the origin of the name Armstrong. Legend has it that a Scottish Knight named Fairbairn rescued a man in battle. He was riding on his horse and swooped the man up with one arm. The brave knight was then on known as Armstrong.

6. You can find my last name in a Sherlock Holmes story. The Adventure of the Cardboard Box to be exact.

7. There is a form of martial arts known as defendu in the UK. It also referred to as The Fairbairn Fighting System thanks to the inventor William E. Fairbairn.

And One Reason Why I Hate My Last Name:

1. Because no matter how many reasons I give you about why my last name is awesome or how hard I try to explain how to pronounce it correctly you are still going to think my last name is Fairburn, Fairbain, or Fairbarn.


Miscellaneous Pictures from London: