Surname Saturday - Davidson

Surname Saturday is a regular blog post in which I will discuss the origins and geography of the surnames which appear in my own family tree.

This is the first Surname Saturday post so I am going to start with my maiden surname DAVIDSON

Davidson Crest
(Image link: www.wikipedia.org,
Author: Celtus,  6 Sept 2008)

The surname "Davidson" is a patronymic name and comes from "son of David" or "David's son". The forename David is biblical and means "beloved" so Davidson equals "son of the beloved".

I always assumed I would be a descendant of the Scottish Davidson clan but have not yet found a link to the clan.

Davidson is also known to be a common anglicised Jewish name from "son of King David" from the Bible, so instead of being Scottish perhaps we're Jewish.

The family crest generally used for the surname Davidson is the  Scottish Davidson clan crest and motto "Sapienter si sincere" meaning "Wisely if sincerely".

The surname is much more common in Northern England, Scotland and London than other areas of the UK.

The history of my own Davidson family can be read on The Davidson Family, but I have research back to John Davidson c1800 in London who was a bandsman in the Royal Marines, his descendants were boiler makers working in the ship building industries. The family eventually moved to Hull, East Yorkshire in the late 1870s where they have remained until the present day.

Information from:

Ancestry - surname origins

Dynastree

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