| Johnson | |
|---|---|
| Family name | |
| Meaning | "son of John" |
| Region of origin | England, Scotland, Ireland |
| Language(s) of origin | English |
| Related names | Ivanov, Jansen, Janssen, Jensen, Johansson, Johnston, Johnstone, Jonson, Jonsson, Johnsson, Jones, Jovanović, Maclan, MacShane, McKeown, MacEoin, McOwen, McKeon, Juánez, O'Seán, McIan |
| Footnotes: [1][2] | |
Johnson is an English, Scottish, and Irish name of Norman 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 Ἰωάννης Iōannēs, from Hebrew יוחנן Yohanan meaning "Yahweh 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] Johnson is the tenth most common surname in the United Kingdom,[1] and second most common in the United States. [4]
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In North America, the surname Johnson has absorbed many variants of this patronym from European languages[3], as well as the Danish Jørgensen (which does not share its root with Johnson, but is derived from Latin Georgius). 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.[5]
In Ireland, Johnson is the Anglicization of the Gaelic surnames Mac Sean (McShane) or Mac Eoin (McKeown).[6]