Anderson (surname)

Anderson is a surname deriving from a patronymic meaning "son of Andrew" (itself derived from the Greek name "Andreas", meaning "man" or "manly"). It originated in parallel in the British Isles and the Nordic countries.

Anderson
GenderMasculine
Origin
Language(s)English, Swedish
Word/nameAndrew
Meaning"son of Andrew"
Other names
Variant form(s)D'Andrea, Andersen, Anderssen, Andersson, Andersonne, Andersons, Andersoun, Andirsoone, Andrásffy, Andrásfi, Andreadis, Andreasian, Andreasson, Andreasyan, Andreescu, Andreessen, Andreiescu, Andresen, Andresoun, Andresson, Andreou, Andrewson, Andrejević, Andrejavičius, Andrejevičius, Andrejić, Andrejsons, Andrzejowicz, Andreyev, Andriadze, Andriashvili, Andrić, Andriyuk, Andriyenko, Andriyiv, Andrijašević, Andrijavić, Andrijević, Androson, Ondřejovič, MacAnndrais

In Scotland, the name first appeared in records of the 14th century as "Fitz Andreu" (meaning son of Andrew), and developed in various forms by the Scottish Gaelic patronymic of "MacGhilleAndrais" which means "servant of St. Andrew". Variations of this name were MacAndrew, Gillanders and Anderson. The name soon migrated to other parts of Scotland due to the popularity of the name "Andrew" as associated with the Patron Saint of Scotland, and the largest grouping lies in the north-east of Scotland from the Mearns through Aberdeenshire, Banff, and Moray.

In England, the very first recorded spelling of the family name is probably that of William Andreu, which was dated 1237, in the ancient charters of the county of Buckinghamshire, England, in the year 1237.

Anderson is the eighth most frequent surname in Scotland and 52nd most common in England.[1]

In Sweden, the form Andersson is the most common surname.[2]

In Norway and Denmark, the form Andersen is quite common, being the fifth most common surname in both countries[3][4] - see Andersen.

The Scandinavian forms Andersson and Andersen were often rendered as Anderson by immigrants to the English-speaking countries, whereby the latter form became one of the most common surnames in Anglophone North America. The name was the eleventh-most common surname reported in the 1990 United States census, accounting for 0.3% of the population.[5] It was the twelfth-most common surname reported in the 2000 United States Census.[6] Anderson is also one of the most popular surnames in Canada.[7]

Other spelling variations include: Andison, Andersonne, Andersoun, Andirsoone, Andresoun, Androson, Andirston, Andresson, Andrewson, and Andresen.

List of people

Notable persons with the surname Anderson include:

A

B

C

D

E

F

G

H

I

J

K

L

M

N

O

P

R

S

T

V

W

Family
  • Anderson family, a group of American professional wrestlers who are billed as relatives:
    • Gene Anderson (1933–1991), fictional brother
    • Lars Anderson (born 1939, real name Lawrence Heinemi), fictional brother
    • Ole Anderson (born 1942, real name Alan Rogowski), fictional brother
    • Arn Anderson (born 1958, real name Martin Lunde), fictional cousin
    • Brad Anderson (wrestler) (born 1969), real-life son of Gene
    • Bryant Anderson, born 1970 as Brian Rogowski, real-life son of Ole
    • C.W. Anderson (born 1971; real name Chris Wright), relationship undetermined but billed as a part of the "family"
    • Karl Anderson (born 1980; real name Chad Allegra), relationship undetermined but billed as a part of the "family"

Fictional characters

See also

References
  1. "Anderson Meaning and Distribution". forebears.co.uk. Retrieved 25 January 2014
  2. Efternamn, topp 100 - Statistics Sweden
  3. Statistics Norway
  4. Statistics Denmark
  5. United States Census Bureau (9 May 1995). s:1990 Census Name Files dist.all.last (1-100). Retrieved on 4 July 2008.
  6. "Genealogy Data: Frequently Occurring Surnames from Census 2000 - U.S. Census Bureau". Archived from the original on 21 December 2009.
  7. CBC News In Depth: Common surnames
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.