Hodgson


Hodgson is a surname. In Britain, the Hodgson surname was the 173rd most common in 1881 and the 206th most common in 1998. In the United States of America, Hodgson was the 3753rd most popular surname in the 1990 census.

Origin and meaning

Hodgson is a patronymic surname, thought by some to mean "son of Hodge", with Hodge being a Middle English personal name usually representing a pet-form of the name Roger. However, Geoffrey Hodgson shows that both distribution of the name and DNA suggest a Norse-Irish origin, making “son of Oddgeir” a more likely derivation.

Variants

The Hodson surname is less common and generally derives from Hodgson. Other probable variants of Hodgson include Hodgeson, Hodgshon, Hodshon, Hodgin, Hodgins, Hodgen, Hodgens, Hodghson, Hodgon and Hodgeon. In the North of England the "s" is often silent in the pronunciation of Hodgson. This accounts for variants such as Hodgin, Hodgen, Hodgon and Hodgeon.

Coat of arms

The Hodgsons of Hebburn, a mine-owning Catholic family living in the North East of England in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, bore a heraldic coat of arms, blazoned as "per chevron, embattled or and azure, three martlets counterchanged". This same coat of arms is associated with several other Hodgson families, including the Hodgsons of West Keal in Lincolnshire, the Hodgsons of Bascodyke in Cumberland, the Hodshons of Amsterdam, and with Thomas Hodgson a Liverpool merchant and slave trader, and the owner of a mill in Caton, Lancashire.

Border Reivers and Hodgson clans

For centuries before James VI's assentation to the throne of England, the remote Anglo-Scottish borderland region had been the lair of unruly clans and gangs of robbers that were largely beyond the reach of the law. A peculiar form of clan organisation grew up in this area. This was the land of the Border Reivers. These clans had a legal system distinct from that of the majority of England and Scotland. The suppression of this legal system led to a generalised breakdown of Reiver society. They would steal goods, cattle and women from across the nominal border.
Some Hodgsons in Cumberland were themselves a clan organisation. The border clans were eventually subjected by state authorities. Many were forced or obliged to emigrate to North America in the 18th century. Many Hodgsons emigrated in this period.

People with the surname

Sports people

Fictional Characters

First Names

Hodgson can also be a given name:

Place Names