Where the Wilson name comes from

Wilson is son of Will, and Will was a popular medieval name in its own right, short for William and for any of the other names built on the Germanic wil, meaning will or desire. The surname has several separate origins across Britain and Ireland rather than one. It is first recorded in England as Willeson in 1324 and in Scotland as Wulson in 1405. It ranks seventh in England, third in Scotland and tenth in the United States, where 783,051 people carried it in 2000.