Dawson
/ˈdɔːsən/noun
A surname and place name meaning 'son of Daw,' with Daw being a medieval short form of David.
Did you know?Dawson is a patronymic surname, so its deepest meaning is not mystical but ancestral: a quiet linguistic fossil of medieval naming, where identity was literally built from lineage.
Etymological Timeline
Medieval English
English
Dawson
“A surname meaning 'son of Daw'.”
Middle English
English
Daw
“A short form or nickname for David.”
Biblical Hebrew
Hebrew
Dāwīḏ
“The personal name David.”
Greek
Greek
Dauid
“A Greek form of the biblical name David.”
Latin
Latin
David
“A Latin form of the biblical name David.”