Johnson
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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Johnson |
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| Meaning | "son of John" |
| Region of origin | England, Scotland, Ireland |
| Language of origin | Old English |
| Related names | Johnston, Johnstone, Jonson, Jonsson, Johansson, Johnsson, Jones, Jovanović, Maclan, MacShane, McKeown, MacEoin, McOwen, McKeon, Ivanov |
| Popularity | Behind the Name |
| Wikipedia articles | All pages beginning with "Johnson" |
| Notes | Frequency Comparisons[1] US Census 1990[2] |
The name Johnson is an English, Scottish, Swedish or Irish patronymic surname of Anglo-Saxon language origin. The name itself is a patronym of the given name John, literally meaning "son of John." The name John derives from Latin Johannes, which is derived through Greek Iōannēs, from Hebrew Yohanan meaning "Jehovah has favoured". The name was extremely popular in Europe since the Christian era, as a result of it being given to St. John the Baptist, St. John the Evangelist and nearly one thousand other Christian saints.[3]
[edit] Description
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In Ireland, the surname can also be an Anglicisation of the Gaelic Mac Seáin (MacShane). Seán is a Gaelicisation of the Norman-French Jean. The MacShanes were a branch of the O'Neills of Tyrone.
In North America, the surname Johnson has absorbed many derivatives of this patronym from European languages.[3] It is the second most common family name in the United States after Smith. During the 1990 census, approximately 0.81% of people counted had this family name.[4]
[edit] Notable people sharing the surname "Johnson"
- Samuel Johnson (pamphleteer)
- Boris Johnson, a British politician
- Alan Johnson, a British politician
- Dietrich Johnson
- Lyndon B. Johnson, former United States president
- Andrew Johnson, former United States president
- Glen Johnson, an English footballer
- Andrew Johnson, an English footballer
- Michael Johnson, an American athlete
- Magic Johnson, an American basketball player
[edit] References
- ^ British Surnames
- ^ "1990 US Census 1990 Name Files". http://www.census.gov/genealogy/names/names_files.html.
- ^ a b "Name meanings Johnson name meanings". ancestry.com. http://www.ancestry.com/learn/facts/Fact.aspx?&fid=10&fn=&ln=johnson Name meanings. Retrieved on 2007-10-22.
- ^ United States Census Bureau (9 May 1995). s:1990 Census Name Files dist.all.last (1-100). Retrieved on 25 February 2008.
