Carlson

Part of speech: noun

Definitions

1. A common surname of Scandinavian origin, meaning son of a man named Carl
2. A family name of Swedish or Norwegian origin that literally means the child of someone called Carl
3. Patronymic surname traditionally borne by people descended from a father named Carl in Scandinavia and elsewhere

Etymology: "Carlson" is a patronymic surname, meaning "son of Carl." Carl is a Germanic name, related to the English "churl" and "ceorl," and once meant something like "freeman" or "man." Adding the Scandinavian suffix "-son" to a father's given name was a way of marking descent, so the name passed down through families in Scandinavia. The surname was borrowed into English from Danish and Norwegian forms, "Carlsen," which follow the same pattern with the older "-sen" ending, a contracted form of "-son." Its use in English-speaking countries came largely through Scandinavian emigrants in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, who carried their family names to America and elsewhere.