Find out how popular the last name Lawson is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Lawson.

Lawson, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Lawson surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Lawson in America

Lawson is the 256th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Lawson surname appeared 119,053 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 40 people would have the surname Lawson.

We can also compare 2010 data for Lawson to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Lawson

The surname Lawson originated in England, emerging in the late 12th century. It is a patronymic name derived from the personal name "Law", a diminutive form of the Old English name "Lava", meaning "dweller by the hill". The suffix "-son" was commonly added to indicate "son of".

In the Domesday Book of 1086, the earliest recorded version of the name appears as "Lauwine", referring to a landholder in Northamptonshire. By the 13th century, variations such as "Laueson" and "Lawesone" were found in records across northern England.

One of the earliest recorded individuals with the surname was Robert Lawson, a landowner in Yorkshire mentioned in the Pipe Rolls of 1194. Another early bearer was William Lawson, a merchant from Newcastle upon Tyne, who was granted a coat of arms in 1340.

The Lawson family held significant influence in Northumberland, where they owned estates such as Cramlington and Longhirst. Sir Ralph Lawson (c.1470-1522) served as a military commander under Henry VIII and played a crucial role in the Battle of Flodden in 1513.

Another notable figure was James Lawson (1538-1584), a Church of England clergyman who served as Dean of Peterborough and was involved in the translation of the Geneva Bible. In the 17th century, Sir Wilfrid Lawson (1619-1688) was a prominent Royalist during the English Civil War.

The surname also had connections to Scotland, where the Lawsons held lands in East Lothian and Fife. Thomas Lawson (1630-1691) was a Scottish mathematician and academic who made contributions to the development of logarithms.

Other historical figures include John Lawson (1615-1659), a Scottish-born merchant and explorer who led expeditions in the Carolinas, and Cecil Gordon Lawson (1851-1882), an English painter known for his landscapes and portraits.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Lawson

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Lawson.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Lawson was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Lawson has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Lawson was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Lawson, please contact us.

Reference this page

We spend a lot of resources downloading, cleaning, merging, and formatting the data that is shown on the site.

If you found the data or information on this page useful in your research, please use the tool below to properly cite or reference Name Census as the source. We appreciate your support!