Matheson Coat of Arms and Surname Origin

Arms linked to Matteson and its spellings were granted to individual families; our heraldry team traces which line they belonged to.

Family name meaning

Genealogists group Matheson with Matteson. The name is generally explained as “The son of Matt, pet form of Matthew (gift of Jehovah)”.

Matheson writes “h” in place of the “t” found in Matteson, a typical scribal difference. Local scribes, dialects and emigration all left their mark on how the name was written. The same family of names includes Mattheson, Matthison and Mattison. The Census Bureau's 2010 surname file lists Matheson with 7,585 bearers, at rank 4,678. Names that sound alike, such as Matthewson, are easily confused in old records.

For the full story, order the Matheson surname pack.