Dotson
Dotson is usually a patronymic surname meaning “son of Dot” or “son of Dodd,” with the spelling later settling into its modern form.
The #1,045 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 9,259 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Dotson is generally understood as an English surname built with the patronymic ending -son, meaning “son of.” The first element is usually taken as Dot, a short form or pet form related to medieval names such as Dodd or Dod, which themselves may have arisen as nickname forms of longer given names. In that sense, the surname originally meant “child of Dot/Dodd.”
History
The name appears in English-speaking records as a fairly ordinary patronymic surname and later became established in North America through English and British migration. In the United States it is especially familiar as a rural and southern surname, though it is not confined to any one region. Like many surnames in -son, it likely arose independently in more than one family line.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Dotson and Dodson are often linked etymologically, but in practice many families standardized the spelling differently over time, so the two names are not always interchangeable.