Origin of the Name Dawson
The origin of the name
Dawson was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. Dawson is a baptismal name meaning 'the son of David', a very old personal name. This name is of Anglo-Saxon descent spreading to the Celtic countries of Ireland , Scotland and Wales in early times and is found in many mediaeval manuscripts throughout these countries. Examples of such are Willemus Dauson, Robertus Daweson, Osbarn Daweson and Walterus Daweson who were all recorded in the 'Poll Tax of the West Riding of Yorkshire', England , in the year 1379. A John Daweson was a merchant in the service of Archambaud, Earl of Douglas, Scotland , in the year 1405.
In Ireland this name and its variants were introduced into Ulster Province by settlers who arrived from England and Scotland , especially during the seventeenth century. It was the 'Plantations of Ireland ' in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries that marked the end of Gaelic supremacy in Ireland . While the influx of settlers in the wake of the earlier Anglo-Norman invasion of the twelfth century resulted in a full integration into Irish society of the new arrivals, the same never occurred with the Ulster Planters who maintained their own distinct identity.
Since that time the name has also become prominent in Counties Monaghan and Tipperary.
The Dawson coat of arms came into existence centuries ago. The process of creating coats of arms (also often called family crests) began in the eleventh century although a form of Proto-Heraldry may have existed in some countries prior to this. The new art of Heraldry made it possible for families and even individual family members to have their very own coat of arms, including all Dawson descendants.