Wilson (surname)
Wilson is an English-language surname, common in the English-speaking world. The name is derived from a patronymic form of Will, a popular mediaeval name. The mediaeval Will is derived from any of several names containing the first Germanic element wil, meaning "desire".[1] Possibly the most common of these names was William, derived from elements wil and helm, meaning "desire" and "helmet", "protection".[2] The surname Wilson is first recorded in England as Willeson in 1324,[3] and in Scotland as Wulson in 1405.[4]
It is the seventh most common surname in the United Kingdom,[5] and eighth most common in the United States.[6] Wilson is also now quite common as a surname in many other countries with a large English-speaking population such as Canada, Australia, South Africa, and New Zealand.
[edit] See also:
- Willson, a variant of the surname
[edit] References
- ^ Wilson Family History, Ancestry.com, http://www.ancestry.com/facts/Wilson-family-history.ashx, retrieved 16 February 2012. This webpage cited: Dictionary of American Family Names, Oxford University Press, ISBN 0-19-508137-4.
- ^ Hanks, Patrick; Hardcastle, Kate; Hodges, Flavia (2006), A Dictionary of First Names, Oxford Paperback Reference (2nd ed.), Oxford University Press, p. 276, ISBN 978-0-19-861060-1.
- ^ Reaney, Percy Hilde (1995), Wilson, Richard Middlewood, ed., A Dictionary of English Surnames (3rd ed.), Oxford University Press, p. 495, ISBN 0-19-8631464.
- ^ Black, George Fraser (1946), The Surnames of Scotland: Their Origin, Meaning, and History, New York: New York Public Library, p. 817
- ^ British surnames
- ^ United States Census Bureau (9 May 1995). s:1990 Census Name Files dist.all.last (1-100). Retrieved on 2008-07-04.
