Geneanet > Resources > Family Names > JOHNSON

Origin and popularity of the name JOHNSON

Origin

Johnson : 1: English and Scottish: patronymic from the Middle English and Older Scots personal name Johan Jo(h)n (see John) + -son. It was often interchanged with Jenson and Janson. In North America this surname has absorbed cognates from other languages e.g. Norwegian Danish or North German Johnsen Johannesen Johannsen Johansen Jansen Jantzen and Jensen Swedish Johnsson (see below) Johansson Jonsson and Jansson Dutch Janssen German Janz Czech Jansa 1 and Slovenian Janša (see Jansa 2) and Janežič (see Janezic). Johnson (including in the sense 2 below) is the second most frequent surname in the US. It is also the second most common surname among Native Americans and a very common surname among African Americans.2: Americanized form (and a less common Swedish variant) of Swedish Johnsson: patronymic from the personal name John a variant of Jon (see John). Compare 1 above.

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Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press
FANBI : The Oxford Dictionary if Family Names in Britain and Ireland, ©2016, University of the West of England

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Last name frequency

Geographic distribution of the 719,840 individuals with the name JOHNSON on Geneanet.

 

Most found places for the name JOHNSON:

    This last name in the family trees

    See below the Geneanet members' family trees which contain the last name JOHNSON

    eyetsick
    (5,834 individuals)
    wbuchanan
    (5,709 individuals)
    cartercousins2022
    (4,302 individuals)
    tdowling
    (3,421 individuals)

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