Edwardson Surname History in 5 Facts
1. Edwardson is just the full version of Edwards - but is much, much rarer
Edwardson and Edwards are both Patronymic Surnames (second names derived from the name of a father). They both mean 'Son of Edward'. However, while Edwards is an extremely common name, Edwardson is very rare.
To understand just how rare, lets take a look at the numbers recorded for some patronymic surnames (long and short versions) in the 1891 England and Wales Census:
That's right - while other patronymics, long and short, rank amongst some of Britain's most common surnames, Edwardson ranks among the rarest.
2. Edwardsons have always been most common in Lancashire...
Available records from between the 1500s and early 1900s show the Edwardson name appearing most often in the North-West of England, specifically in Lancashire, which seems to be the Edwardson 'epicenter'.
To visualise this, let's look at a map of the 1891 England & Wales census, breaking down the location of families with the surname 'Edwardson':
As the map makes clear, Lancashire was the Edwardson surname stronghold in 1891—just as records suggest it had been for centuries. Lancashire has 73% of all mentions of Edwardson in records from the 1500s, and 400 years later in the 1891 census, 76% of Edwardson families were located in the county. This suggests that Lancashire has consistently been home to around three quarters of all English Edwardsons.
*This map shows the counties of England and Wales as they were in the 1800s - as such there are some clear discrepancies with the modern counties. Any counties not referenced had no Edwardson families recorded in 1891.
3. ...And the earliest Edwardsons seem rooted in Lancashire/Cheshire
The earliest birth, death, and marriage records widely available to us date back to the 1540s, thanks to Thomas Cromwell, Chief Minister to Henry VIII. In 1538, Cromwell ordered that every parish in the Kingdom was to keep a record of baptisms, marriages, and burials—centuries later, this gives use our first glimpse of many common families. Records from this time show the Edwardson name concentrated in Lancashire, particularly at the village of Farnworth (near Widnes) and Kirkham (near Preston). Over the following centuries, the Edwardson surname remained strongest in this area.
Does this mean that the Edwardson name originated in Lancashire?
It certainly seems likely—but the story isn’t quite that simple.
While Lancashire had the highest concentration of Edwardsons, some early records also find them in Cheshire, Yorkshire, Norfolk, and London—though in far smaller numbers.
The church of St Luke, formerly St Wilfrid, Widnes Farnworth, Cheshire (Lancashire pre-1974), where a large number of Edwardsons were recorded being baptised, married, and buried from the 1500s onward.
John Leland's 1610 map of Lancashire, with Farnworth and Kirkham highlighted in red circles. These were areas of particular Edwardson concentration in early records.
4. Edwardson originated separately in Scotland and Scandinavia
This site primarily focuses on English Edwardsons—but they are not the only ones who bear the name!
Scottish Edwardsons: A Unique Origin
By the early 1700s, the Edwardson name appears in records from Scotland, particularly in the Shetland Islands (especially Unst, the northernmost of the Shetlands) and Caithness. However, it is almost certain that these Scottish Edwardsons have no direct connection to the English ones.
Why is that? Surnames in Shetland and Northern Scotland did not become fixed until around 1800 —making it one of the last places in Britain to abandon the old fluid patronymic system (which still exists in Iceland today).
For example, let's look at one Shetland family over three generations between 1750 - 1810:
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Generation 1: Edward Donaldson (b. 1750) → Named Donaldson because his father was Donald.
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Generation 2: Daniel Edwardson (b. 1782) → Named Edwardson because his father was Edward.
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Generation 3: Henry Edwardson (b. 1810) → At this time, surnames became fixed. Even though Henry's father was called Daniel, Edwardson endured as a permanent family name, 'fossilizing' the name Edward.
From this point onward, Edwardson became an established surname in Scotland, particularly in Shetland. This process is almost certainly how the name had previously become fixed in England, around five centuries earlier.
Scandinavian Edwardsons: A Similar Pattern
The surname Edwardson also appears in Scandinavia, as a rare variant of the more common 'Edvardsen' (with 'Edwardsen' also occasionally found).
Like their Scottish counterparts, most Scandinavians only adopted fixed surnames between the 19th and early 20th centuries. This means that Scandinavian Edwardsons likely have no direct connection to either the English or Scottish branches - unless there's a story which we haven't uncovered yet...
Could Edwardson Have Other, Separate Origins?
It’s certainly possible! If you know of an independent origin of the Edwardson surname, please get in touch—we’d love to hear from you!
A War memorial at Norwick, Unst, Shetland islands, bearing the name of Peter Edwardson, D.C.C.
5. Edwardsons travelled to North America and Australasia - and put down roots
Beginning in the 1600s, the Edwardson surname migrated to other parts of the world along with the spread of English, and later British, colonization. English Edwardsons are first recorded in the American colonies in the 1600s, and in the succeeding centuries centuries they would be joined by their namesakes from Scotland and Scandinavia. Edwardsons are recorded as having fought in the American Civil War, and today they seem to be especially found in areas of strong Scandinavian settlement, such as Minnesota.
📍 Are you an American or Canadian Edwardson? Do you want to help uncover and share Edwardson stories from North America? If so, get in touch!
Similarly, from the 1800s Edwardsons appear in Australia and New Zealand, coming from both Britain and Scandinavia. In New Zealand, they left the name on the landscape.
📍 Are you an Edwardson from Australia or New Zealand? There could be a rich history waiting for you to discover. Get in touch and help us tell it!
Moana-whenua-pōuri / Edwardson Sound, in New Zealand's epic Fjordland.