Davidson
surname · Latin script
Meaning: Patronymic from David; early Latin forms 1219 and 1296
(measured from records)Officially recorded in 42 countries · latest register: Guyana, 2025
/ˈdeɪvɪdsən/(recorded in a dictionary) English · from Wiktionary
Davidson is a surname written in the Latin script, with more bearers in the United States than in any other country.
- GBUnited Kingdom≈1 in 1.8K(inferred from the name graph)
- GYGuyana1 in 1.8K
- AUAustralia≈1 in 1.9K
carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). Countries with no figure are shown too: flat where a national register lists the name without counting it, hatched where only our records hold it. One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.
- United States (measured from records)
- #816 (measured from records)
- Record sources
- 551 (measured from records)
- ≈1 in 1.8K (inferred from the name graph)
103,930 people, 2010
of 19M surnames, spellings grouped
corpus datasets behind its best-documented spelling
strongest: highest-authority source
United Kingdom, est.
measured from records inferred from the name graph
Meaning & origin
(measured from records)Patronymic from David; early Latin forms 1219 and 1296. Robert Davidson of Aberdeen was killed at Harlaw, 1411.
Cited for this meaning 1
- Scottish Surnames
Attested in 1 language in the etymology graph.
Often considered alongside
Names that people choosing a name often weigh against Davidson, most often first. They share a style rather than an origin.
From the names suggested together in public name-advice forums, in English. A list of what people consider, not a measure of how common any name is.
Where the surname Davidson is found
(measured from records)Davidson counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.
Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.
| Country | Most common spelling | Sources | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| US United States | #250 | 103,930 | 1 in 3.2K | 104K | Davidson | 551 |
| GB United Kingdom | #147 | ≈38,000 est. | ≈1 in 1.8K | — | Davidson | 280 |
| CA Canada | #133 | ≈21,000 est. | ≈1 in 2K | — | Davidson | 280 |
| AU Australia | #158 | ≈15,000 est. | ≈1 in 1.9K | 1 | Davidson | 243 |
| NG Nigeria | — | ≈11,000 est. | ≈1 in 21K | — | Davidson | 64 |
| NZ New Zealand | #105 | ≈2,800 est. | ≈1 in 1.9K | — | Davidson | 139 |
| GY Guyana | — | 407 | 1 in 1.8K | 407 | — | 10 |
103,930 people counted by Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010, 2010. Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.
Registers cited: Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010; SA BDM — Popular baby names South Australia (1944–present); Guyana — Official List of Electors July 2025. Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.
Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).
Other recorded senses
(measured from records)Davidson is also recorded in 3 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.
In English, son of David; first attested Thomas Davyson 1327 SRY.
as a nameA Dictionary of English Surnames
In English, An English and Scottish surname originating as a patronymic.
as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)
In Irish, The name of a Scottish clan numerous in north-east Ulster. Davison and Davie are branches of that clan
as a nameThe Surnames of Ireland
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.
Notable people with this name
(measured from records)- Donald Davidsonb. 1917USAmerican philosopher (1917–2003)
- Anthony Davidsonb. 1979GBracing driver, 2014 World Endurance Drivers' Championship winner
- Pete Davidsonb. 1993USAmerican comedian and actor (born 1993)
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).
How to address them
(machine-generated)Evidence
(measured from records)69 registers and reference works attest this spelling, across 42 countries.
Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.
Frequently asked questions
- Where does the name Davidson come from?
- Patronymic from David; early Latin forms 1219 and 1296. Robert Davidson of Aberdeen was killed at Harlaw, 1411. Recorded by Scottish Surnames.
- How do you pronounce Davidson?
- In English /ˈdeɪvɪdsən/ (Wiktionary).
- Which countries have the most people with the surname Davidson?
- In the United States, the national register counted about 104 thousand people named Davidson, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled davidson. After it come United Kingdom, Canada, Australia and Nigeria; the country table on this page ranks them.
- What does the name Davidson mean?
- Recorded meaning: Patronymic from David; early Latin forms 1219 and 1296.
- How common is the name Davidson?
- In the United States, the national register counted 103,930 people named Davidson in 2010, about 1 in 3.2 thousand residents.
- How common is Davidson compared with other names?
- In the United States, Davidson is the 250th most common surname of 6,282,806 surnames recorded there.
What do you want to know about Davidson?
Nobody replies to these one by one, but what readers ask decides what these pages answer next.
Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/davidsonThe payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (1,000 requests a day), which returns what this page shows everyone; the full country table, every register citation and the year-by-year series come with a licensed key, as does bulk access.
About this data
measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated
These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.
Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.
Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.
Cite this page Mondonomo, “Davidson” — the 250th most common surname in United States. Data snapshot 2026-10-13.