Anderson
also MacAndrew
Son of Andrew — the saint that gave Scotland its flag, and the patronymic that crossed every shire.
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CoreHistoric reach
The seat of Anderson
Seat vacantChief
No chief yet. The seat awaits its first claimant — be the first to stake your name to Anderson.
Current mission
No mission proclaimed. The chief, once seated, sets the clan’s public focus — a campaign, a contest, a piece of restoration, a year of remembrance.
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Stake your name →What does the Anderson name mean?
Son of Andrew — patron saint of Scotland, whose 9th-century association with the Scottish church embedded the name across every parish. The Lowland Scots form Anderson took the standard patronymic 's'; the Highland Gaelic form Mac Andreis became MacAndrew. Both are the same patronymic.
The history of Anderson
Anderson is among the top ten Scottish surnames, owed almost entirely to the cult of St Andrew — patron saint of Scotland from at least the 9th century, and the figure whose diagonal cross (the saltire) became the national flag. Density is highest in the north-east and across the central belt.
John Anderson (1726–1796) of Glasgow was professor of natural philosophy at Glasgow University and, in his will, founded the Andersonian Institution in 1796 — the institution that would become the University of Strathclyde, the first technical university in the English-speaking world. Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836–1917), the first woman to qualify as a physician in Britain, came from a London-Anderson line of distant Scottish descent.
Hans Christian Andersen of Denmark and the Scottish Andersons share a single Germanic etymology — son of Andrew — applied independently in two languages.
Notable bearers of the Anderson name
- John Anderson (1726–1796) — professor, founder of the University of Strathclyde
- John Macvicar Anderson (1835–1915) — architect
- Lin-Manuel Miranda's grandmother was an Anderson of Scottish descent