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

Wesson, 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 Wesson surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Wesson in America

Wesson is the 6505th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Wesson surname appeared 5,217 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 2 people would have the surname Wesson.

We can also compare 2010 data for Wesson 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 Wesson

The surname WESSON originated in England during the Anglo-Saxon period. It is derived from the Old English word 'weg' meaning 'way' or 'road', combined with 'sunu' meaning 'son'. Thus, WESSON likely referred to someone who lived near a particular road or pathway.

WESSON is a locational surname, indicating that the first bearers of this name lived in a place whose name incorporated the word 'weg'. Some early examples include the villages of Weston in Somerset, Weston in Hertfordshire, and Weston in Staffordshire. The name may have been adopted by people migrating from these or similar places.

The WESSON surname can be traced back to the 11th century in the Domesday Book of 1086, which recorded landowners in England after the Norman Conquest. There are several mentions of individuals with names like 'Wiganus' and 'Wigan', which could be early spellings of WESSON.

One of the earliest recorded individuals with this surname was William Wesson, who was born in Northamptonshire, England around 1250. In the 14th century, a John Wesson was listed as a landowner in the village of Weston in Somerset in 1327.

Notable people with the WESSON surname include Walter Wesson (1857-1942), an American firearms manufacturer who co-founded the Smith & Wesson company. Frank Wesson (1883-1962) was an American actor and film director active in the early 20th century.

Other examples are Robert Wesson (1882-1930), an English footballer who played for Newcastle United, and Sir Jonah Wesson (1901-1982), a British politician and Member of Parliament from 1935 to 1970. Emily Wesson (1867-1936) was an American poet and novelist active in the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Wesson

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

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 Wesson 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 Wesson 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 Wesson was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

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

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