Tenison: Last Name Origin and Family Crest

Search old registers for Tenison and you will soon meet Tennyson too. In origin, the name means “Son of Dennis”.

Spelling and variants

Before spelling was fixed, Tennyson was also written Tenison. Census takers and immigration officers often wrote what they heard. The same family of names includes Tennison.

Tenison ranked 59,742 in the 2010 US Census, with 338 people answering to the name. Names that sound alike, such as Dennison and Denson, are easily confused in old records.

Arms associated with the name

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

Get the complete Tenison report, with a museum-style coat of arms.