Samson Family History

English, Welsh, French, Breton, German, Dutch, Jewish, Filipino, African (mainly Nigeria, Tanzania, and Ethiopia), and West Indian (mainly Haiti); Hungarian (Sámson): from the Biblical personal name Samson (Hebrew Shimshon, a diminutive of shemesh ‘sun’). Among Christians it was sometimes chosen as a personal name or nickname with reference to the great strength of the Biblical hero (Judges 13–16). In Wales, another association was with the 6th-century Welsh bishop Samson who traveled to Brittany, where he died and was greatly venerated.

His name, which is probably an altered form of an unknown Celtic original, was popularized in England by Breton followers of William the Conqueror and to some extent independently from Wales. The English surname has been established in Ireland since the 14th century. In France, this surname is most common in Morbihan (Brittany). Compare Sampson.

— Note: Since Ethiopians do not have hereditary surnames, the Ethiopian name was registered as such only after immigration of its bearers to the US.

Filipino: Chinese Filipino surname formed with Chinese 孫 or sūn ‘grandchild’ as the second element. The first element, 三 in Chinese, means ‘third’, a reference to birth order.

See also 1 above.