Where the Anderson name comes from

Anderson means son of Andrew, and the Andrew underneath it is the Greek Andreas, a word for man. It appears in Scottish records in the 14th century as Fitz Andreu, and in Gaelic as MacGhilleAndrais, servant of St Andrew. Andrew is Scotland's patron saint, which is why the name spread there so quickly and why its largest grouping sat in the north-east, through Aberdeenshire, Banff and Moray.

The oldest English spelling on record is William Andreu, in a Buckinghamshire charter of 1237. A great many American Andersons were an Andersson or an Andersen first, and the spelling changed at the far end of the journey rather than at the near one.