Magnuson
A Scandinavian patronymic surname meaning “son of Magnus.”
The #4,445 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 38,690 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Magnuson is a patronymic surname built from the given name Magnus plus the Scandinavian suffix -son, meaning “son of.” The personal name Magnus came into the Scandinavian world through Latin, where it meant “great,” and was widely used by Christian Europeans after the Middle Ages. So the surname originally identified someone as the son of a man named Magnus.
History
The surname is especially associated with Sweden and Norway, where patronymic naming was long the norm before hereditary surnames became fixed. In North America it is found largely among descendants of Scandinavian immigrants, especially in the Upper Midwest. The spelling with -son reflects the common Anglicized form used after migration.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Magnus was a popular royal and saintly name in medieval Scandinavia, which helped make surnames built from it relatively common.