the name of a family of the patrician Fabia gens. This name, which signifies a kind of hawk, was originally given to a member of this gens, because the bird had on one occasion settled upon his ship with a favourable omen. (Plin. Nat. 10.8. s. 10.) We are not told which of the Fabii first obtained this surname, but it was probably one of the Fabii Ambusti. [AMBUSTUS.]