[Facts] All roads (and some names) lead to Rome...
in reply to a message by Andrea Fabian
Che and Mike C.'s list nailed the meaning of your name all right, but here's something additional that might earn you a little extra credit on your research project. I'm taking this from a wonderfully informative book titled: *A Dictionary of Surnames* by Patrick Hanks & Flavia Hodges (Oxford University Press, 1988):
FABIAN
1. English, French, Polish, Austrian, and Venetian: from a given name (Latin, "Fabianus", a derivative of "Fabius", a Roman family name perhaps derived from "faba" bean.) The given name achieved some popularity in the Middle Ages as having been borne by a 3rd century pope and saint.
2. Jewish adoption of the non-Jewish surname under the influence of the Yiddish male given name "Fayvish".
-- Nanaea
FABIAN
1. English, French, Polish, Austrian, and Venetian: from a given name (Latin, "Fabianus", a derivative of "Fabius", a Roman family name perhaps derived from "faba" bean.) The given name achieved some popularity in the Middle Ages as having been borne by a 3rd century pope and saint.
2. Jewish adoption of the non-Jewish surname under the influence of the Yiddish male given name "Fayvish".
-- Nanaea