The founders of such firms. This is the earliest usage, e.g. Tom Wolfe's 1983 profile of Noyce ^[4] or a 5,000-word profile of Silicon Valley ^[5] in 1999.

The spin-off companies created by former employees of Fairchild Semiconductor. This is the usage of historian Leslie Berlin (the acknowledged expert on Fairchild) in her 2001 journal article ^[1], in her 2001 doctoral dissertation^[2], and in her biography of Robert Noyce^[3].

Note that there is an overlap among the last three categories, as some of the Fairchild Eight (such as Noyce and Eugene Kleiner) left Fairchild to form other companies.

The original founders of Fairchild Semiconductor, more commonly known as the "Traitorous Eight", "Fairchild Eight" or "Shockley Eight". This has been used by a PBS website and a book on stock options. ^[7]

The term Fairchildren refers to the seminal role that Fairchild Semiconductor played in spawning spin-off companies in Silicon Valley. It is a play on the words "Fairchild" and "children," the latter referring to the formation of (unofficial) spin-off companies from a parent company.