Johnson Family Crest, Coat of Arms & Johnson Name Origin

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Origin of the Name Johnson

The ancient history of the name Johnson was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. Variants of Johnson include Jonson and McShane. Meaning 'the son of John', this name is of Scottish descent spreading to Ireland , England and Wales in early times and is found in many mediaeval manuscripts throughout the above countries. Examples of such are a Alexander Johnson, of Aberdeen, Scotland , who received letters of denisation in England in the year 1480 and a Nicholas Johnson was a Burgess of Ayr, Scotland , in the year 1503. A Walter Jonesone of Berwickshire rendered homage in 1296 and a William Jonessone, merchant of Aberdeen, complained that his goods shipped in a Flemish vessel had been arrested at Grymesby in 1368. In Ireland the name is popular in Ulster having been introduced from Scotland Centuries ago. It is also an anglicized version of the native Gaelic MacSeain sept, who were a branch of the O'Neills, as well as being a variant of MacKeown and McKeon.