Anderson

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Andersen in DK Denmark, SE Sweden, NO Norway and 2 more.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested across 5 languages in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Anderson is also recorded as 7 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• Portuguese surname7.1M records spelled Anderson13 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Brazil, France, United Kingdom

  Languages: Portuguese, French, Catalan

  Also written Andersone, Andèrson, Ânderson, Andersön, Andêrsôn

• Spanish surname694K records spelled Anderson142 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Argentina, Colombia, Mexico

  Also written Andersón, Ánderson, Ändërsön, A'Nderson, Änderson

• a separate surname405K records spelled Anderson5 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy

  Also written Ânderson, Andersón, Ánderson

• Hindi surname33K records spelled Anderson9 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu

  Also written A̺̿n̺̿d̺̿e̺̿r̺̿s̺̿o̺̿n̺̿, Ändërsön, Ändersön, Andersön, Andersón

• Polish surname31K records spelled Anderson23 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, Czechia, United Kingdom

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Croatian

  Also written Andersson, Андерсон, Андерсън, Änderson, Anderšon

• Greek surname15K records spelled Anderson4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in Greece, United States, United Kingdom, Canada

  Also written Άντερσον, Αντερσον, Ανδερσον

• Italian surname15K records spelled Anderson3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, San Marino, Canada

  Also written Ändërsön, A͙n͙d͙e͙r͙s͙o͙n͙

100 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Anderson is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• In English, Patronymic meaning 'son of Andrew'; recorded as Duncan le fiz Andreu in Dumfries, 1296.

  as a name·Scottish Surnames

• In German, Patronymic surname; English/Scandinavian -son formation, with related Peterson, Janson, Johnson.

  as a name·Deutscher Familiennamenatlas, Band 3: Morphologie der Familiennamen

• In English, son of Andrew; first attested Henry Androsoun c1443 Black

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In English, Henry Androsoun c1443 Black; John Andrewson 1444 ib.; Robert Androwson, Androson 1455, 1482 GildY; Thomas Anderson 1471 FrY; Thomas Enderson 1674 HTSf. ‘Son of Andrew’.

  as a name·A Dictionary of English Surnames

• In English, A Scottish surname originating as a patronymic.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 146 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• Carl David Andersonb. 1905USAmerican physicist
• Robert Woodruff Andersonb. 1917USAmerican playwright, screenwriter, and theater producer (1917–2009)
• Philip Warren Andersonb. 1923USAmerican physicist (1923-2020)
• Adam Westb. 1928USnot in their usual nameAmerican actor (1928-2017)
• Kevin Andersonb. 1960USAmerican actor
• Steve Austinb. 1964USnot in their usual nameAmerican professional wrestler and actor
• Pamela Andersonb. 1967CACanadian actress and model (born 1967)
• Gillian Andersonb. 1968USAmerican actress (born 1968)
• Paul Thomas Andersonb. 1970USAmerican filmmaker (born 1970)
• Kristen Anderson-Lopezb. 1972USAmerican songwriter

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 878 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Anderson?

We estimate roughly 1.3 million people bear Anderson (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Anderson have the most bearers?

We estimate about 784 thousand people bear Anderson in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled anderson.

Where is Anderson most common?

Measured as a share of residents rather than as a count, Anderson is densest in Denmark — about 1 in 41 people — even though United States holds more of our records for it.

How common is Anderson compared with other names?

In the United States, Anderson is the 12th most common surname of 7,257,200 surnames recorded there.

What does the name Anderson mean?

Recorded meaning: ‘son of Ander or Anders’, northern Middle English or Scottish forms of Andrew