Harrison
A classic patronymic surname meaning “son of Harry,” with Harry itself a medieval pet form of Henry.
The #141 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 1,705 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Harrison is an English surname formed from the given name Harry plus the patronymic suffix -son, so its literal sense is “son of Harry.” Harry was a common medieval nickname for Henry, a name ultimately from Germanic elements meaning roughly “home ruler.” In older surname collections, Harrison is therefore treated as the equivalent of Henryson or Henrison.
History
The surname became widespread in England and later in the United States, where it has remained common. It was already familiar enough by the 19th century to appear among large surname counts in reference works. Because Harry was such a common everyday form of Henry, Harrison arose independently in many places rather than from a single family line.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One old surname writer explicitly glossed Harrison as “the son of Harry.”
From the historical record
“HARRISON. See Henry. HARROD. 1. Harold. 2. Harewood. HARROP. See Harrap. HARROW. A town in INIiddlesex. HARROWER. The occupatiou. A tiller of laud. HARRY. See Henry. Harry was fami-”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United KingdomNotable people named Harrison
- William Henry Harrison (1773–1841)
- Benjamin Harrison (1833–1901)
- George Harrison (1943–2001)
Sourced from Wikidata; linked to their Wikipedia page.