The Lawson Name

The surname Lawson is taken from 'Law' and denotes someone who is the 'son of law'. The most likely source of the name is either from the name Lawrence believed to have originated from a person who lived near a laurel tree or from the Old English word hlaw meaning a hill and therefore a person 'the son of who lived on or near the hill'.

Records indicate that the earliest use of the Lawson name was documented in the 14th century in Upper Littondale, Yorkshire, an area close to the present day villages of Litton and Arncliffe on the River Skirfare, a tributary of the River Wharfe. Surnames or 'add-on' names can generally only be traced back to this time in history when they were adopted in order to distinguish individuals of the same forename. From that time the surname was handed down from father to son and occasionally from mother to son.

It is believed that the Lawson name spread from this area to the remainder of Yorkshire and throughout several adjoining Counties in Northern England. Records also indicate that the Lawson name existed in Scotland from 14th century where it was most commonly found in Lowland Eastern Counties. In Scotland Lawson families have links with the McLaren Clan.

It is probable that more than one original source of the name exists. The Lawson name today is found commonly in all English speaking countries. There is evidence that the Lawson name was adopted from the European (mostly Scandinavian) name Larsen and similar surnames when emigration to the British Isles took place.

Possibly the best way in which to study the distribution of the name is to study the records of births during the earliest years after civil registration was introduced. This is by no means an absolutely accurate way of studying statistics because in this period not all births were recorded but the figures would represent a comparative value as presumably recording throughout the whole of England and Wales would have followed similar trends. The comparison again would be slightly distorted by virtue of the fact that some parts of a particular County would fall in a registration district which belonged in the main to another County. However, for the purpose of the study, the results do show definite trends and are therefore considered to be of value.

See Distribution of the Lawson Name in England and Scotland.

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