Fun Facts About the Name Fentress
- 21 babies named Fentress: U.S. records list 21 babies given the name Fentress from 1880 through 2025.
What Does the Name Fentress Mean?
Fentress is an English surname with no securely established meaning. It is usually described as a habitational name, meaning one taken from a place, but no English place called Fentress has been identified, so the original sense of the name cannot be recovered. Because the source place is unknown, any division of the name into Old English or Norman French elements is guesswork rather than documented etymology. Surnames that merely look similar, such as Ventress, are not necessarily related and are best treated on their own.
Fentress Name History & Origins
Fentress is an English family name that was carried to North America by colonists and became established in the American South. It appears in colonial records of Virginia and the surrounding region, where it remained almost entirely a surname. In Tidewater Virginia the name also attached to a place: the community of Fentress, now part of the city of Chesapeake, and the naval outlying landing field nearby both bear it.
Inland, the name entered public life through James Fentress, a Tennessee lawyer and state legislator. Fentress County in northern Tennessee, created in 1840, was named in his honor, and it is the best-known public use of the surname.
Use of Fentress as a given name is uncommon and mainly American. Like many other surnames brought forward as first names, it most often appears as a family name passed down to a child, a pattern long common in the southern United States.
How Popular is the Name Fentress?
Fentress has historically been an exceptionally rare given name in the United States, remaining well outside the national mainstream. It saw its highest recorded annual births in 1918. Its best rank was #3,880 in 1918.
U.S. name popularity from 1880-2025, based on SSA data. Rank shows how the name compares with other names - lower numbers mean greater popularity. Births shows how many babies received the name each year.
| Year | Rank | Births | % |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1976 | #5,887 | 5 | 0.0003% |
| 1959 | #4,190 | 5 | 0.0002% |
| 1921 | #4,565 | 5 | 0.0005% |
| 1918 | #3,880 | 6 | 0.0006% |
Name popularity over more than a century, based on Social Security Administration data. Gaps in the chart indicate years when the name does not appear in the published records.
Most Popular Boy Names That Start with F
How the Name Fentress Shapes Your Personality and Life?
You are kind, home-loving, hospitable and friendly. Since you take responsibility well, you are a good organizer of social affairs. Compassion for others is an outstanding trait. You are a great lover and a great flirt – an artist, musician, actor, teacher, nurse. Your character can be contradictory. You are practical, yet idealistic and intuitive; capable of selfless devotion to someone you love, yet look to receive payback. You have an eventful, exciting life. You are versatile and have the ability to learn easily.
You are very intuitive. You have a reservoir of inspired wisdom combined with inherited analytical ability, which could reward you through expressions of spiritual leadership, business analysis, marketing, artistic visions, and scientific research. Operating on spiritual side of your individuality can bring you to the great heights, and drop you off if you neglect your spiritual identity. You are always looking for an opportunity to investigate the unknown, to use and show your mental abilities, to find the purpose and meaning of life. You want to grow wise and to understand people and things. You need privacy to replenish your energy. You have a unique way of thinking, intuitive, reflective, absorbing.
✦ Fentress's Deeper Meaning & Tips for Parents Discover Fentress's symbolic numbers and practical tips for choosing a name that complements your child's birth date.