What is the nationality of Wilson?

Question

Wilson is my great grandmothers maiden name on my fathers side. I always thought that Wilson was english, but after reading on the internet I read that it originated in northern scotland from viking settlers. I asked my dad what nationality it was and he said that we had ancesters that were pennsylvania dutch that bore the name. That would mean its german, but I have never heard of any germans with the last name Wilson. I also heard that name William is of germanic origin there for Wilson = Son of William which would make it germanic?

Answer 1

Wilson is a common name in Scottish genealogy being found originally in the Border counties ( Kelso , Roxburgh , Peebles and Berwick ) Alsxo foiund in Glasgow, Aberdeenshire and Ayrshire ( where the " planters " to Ulster may have come from ) .

Answer 2

It may be Scots-Irish. The Pennsylvania-Dutch connection sounds very remote.

Answer 3

Mostly English, unless African-American or Chinese. (See below).

The Pennsylvania "Dutch" were mostly "Deutch", or German. A PD woman would marry an Englishman if he was a Protestant. Lots of mine did.

Below:

Every time I answer a "Surname Origin?" question, I think of the joke:

Man sees a sign, "Olaf Olafson, Chinese Restaurant". He goes in, orders a plate of chow mein, asks the Chinese gentleman behind the counter who is Olaf. Chinese gentleman says, "Me! There I was at Ellis Island. The man in front of me was a Swede, six foot four, broad shoulders, red beard. They ask him 'Name?' he says 'Olaf Olafson', in a voice that makes the pens rattle in their holders. Off he goes to seek his fortune. They ask me 'Name?', I say 'Sam Ting', and here I am."

[Sam Ting = Same Thing]



Seriously, you should have 16 surnames among your great great grandparents, unless you double up on Smith, Johnson, Miller or Jones or someone married a cousin.

If you are in the USA and trace your family tree, you might find an immigrant who came through Ellis Island yearning to be free, a bootlegger, a flapper, a great uncle who died in the muddy trenches of France in 1917. You may find someone who marched off to fight in the Civil War (Maybe two, one wearing blue, one wearing grey). You may find a German who became Pennsylvania "Dutch", a Huguenot, an Irish Potato Famine immigrant. You might find someone who married at 18 and supported his family with musket, plow and axe in the howling wilderness we now call Ohio.

In the UK your chances of finding a homesteader are less, but your chances of finding that great uncle who served in WWI are better.

In Australia you may find someone who got a free ride to a new home, courtesy of the benevolent Government and HM Prison ship "Hope".

Your grandfather with that surname may have married a Scot, a Sioux, a Swede. HIS father, a stolid, dull protestant, may have married an Italian with flashing dark eyes, the first woman on the block to serve red wine in jelly glasses and use garlic in her stew. You'll never know if this is the only question you ask.

Answer 4

I found this for you.

Surname: Wilson

This distinguished surname, having more than seventy Coats of Arms, and with as many notable entries in the "Dictionary of National Biography" is of early medieval English origin although recorded throughout the British Isles. It is a patronymic form of the male given name Will, itself a diminutive of William. Introduced into England by William, Duke of Normandy, and known to history as "The Conqueror" , William soon became the most popular given name in England. The Norman form and that borne by the Conqueror, was "Willelm", a spelling adopted from the Frankish Empire of the 8th century. The name is a compound which originally consisted of the elements "wil", meaning desire, and "helm", a helmet which offered protection. Early examples of the surname recording in England include: Robertus Willelmi in the Domesday Book of 1086, whilst in 1341 Robert Wilson was recorded at Kirkstall, Yorkshire, the patronymic form of the name having emerged some seventeen years earlier (as below). One of the earliest emigrant to the New World was John Wilson, recorded on a register of "those living in Virginia on February 18th 1623". One of the most illustrious bearers of the name was Sir Robert Thomas Wilson, general and governor of Gibraltar, who in 1801 received the rank of baron of the Holy Roman Empire. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Robert Willeson. This was dated 1324, in records of the Manor of Wakefield, Yorkshire. This was during the reign of King Edward 11nd of England, 1307 - 1327.

Hope this helps.

Answer 5

English

Answer 6

This is kind of a hard concept to understand so i will try to explain it as simply as possible. viking men's surnames ending in "sson" were common until the man distinguished a name for himself by doing a great deed. since the viknigs moved on to Germania, and then those people moved on to England, they carried their naming system with them. By the time they got to england, names like Wilson were permanent and could no longer be changed, like in scandinavia. The cousins of the English, the native viknigs, then attacked and settled most of Brittania. Therefore, it is mostly possible that your name is English, becuase the Enlish version of the Vikngi naming system is with "son", not "sson." So you are descended form vikings, thousands of years ago, but your name is most likely Brittanic, menaing from somewhere of the british isles.