Origin of the Name Peterson
The ancient history of the name
Peterson was found in the allfamilycrests.com archives. The name Peterson has a number of variants including Petersen, Peters, Petre, Pether, Peeter, Pieterson and many others. This name has religious significance as it was chosen by Christ for one of his Apostles. Saint Peter is regarded as the founding father of the Christian Church. This name is of Anglo-Celtic origin and is found throughout England , Ireland , Scotland and Wales and is found in many mediaeval manuscripts in these countries. Examples of such are a Henry filius Pet, County Cambridgeshire, who was recorded in the 'Hundred Rolls', England , in the year 1273. A William Petres of County Somerset was recorded in the ancient text 'Kirby's Quest' in the reign of Edward III. In Scotland a Nigellus filius Petri was one of the Burgenses rure manentes, Aberdeen, in the year 1317. In Ireland the name is found in small numbers in Ulster Province having being introduced there from England and Scotland during the seventeenth century. Peterson is also an anglicized form of the Gaelic MacPheadair sept name of Counties Tyrone and Derry that was also changed to McFeeters.
The Peterson 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 Peterson descendants.