Isobel Allan

Ancient Origins of the Wilson Families The surname Wilson has its roots in both Scotland and England, and before that in Normandy and Denmark. There are at least four principal families lines bearing the name of Wilson in Britain today (stemming from Wolf of Denmark via clan Inness, William of clan Gunn, William de Waldershelf, and an unknown Norman invader named Wilson). Spelling variants include Wilson, Willson, Willsonne, Wilsone, Wulson, Wilsoun, Wolsoun, Wolfson, Wilfson, Wylsone and others, some versions being older than others but the differences often meaning relatively little, since one man might spell his own name in more than one way at different times in his life.

The Norse Willsons of Scotland The Willson's in Scotland and the Wilsons in England are of two different lines which may have a common origin in the distant past. Many of the English Wilsons are of Norman ancestry whereas the Scottish Willson's are mostly of Picto-Norse descent and represent either a branch (“sept”) of the clan Gunn in Caithness or the much older House of Inness in Banffshire. The clan Gunn Willson's are descended from George Gunn “the Crowner,” through his son William—hence “Will's son”—who lived in the late 1400’s.

The Wilsons of clan Gunn, however, were a relatively late-emerginging Norse branch of the Wilson surname. The name Wilson definitely dates to a much earlier time in Scotland. The early Nordic Wilsons were descended from a Danish Prince of the Royal House of Norway (Norway administered Denmark for centuries), and established themselves at a very remote period in the Orkney Islands, in the 9th century, soon after 888 when King Harold of Norway routed the more rebellious clans. The name occurs in the Viking Sagas and the Orkneyinga Sagas.

European historians generally refer to the period between the 8th and 11th centuries as the Viking Age. The Vikings expanded east, west and south from Scandinavia through trading, raiding and the establishment of settlements. From bases in Sweden they invaded the Baltic region and Russia; from Denmark they invaded England, France and coastal Spain. The Shetland and Orkney Islands were the first of the British Isles to be colonized around 780, and by 800 the Western Isles, the Faeroe Islands and Iceland were colonized. In the Orkney Islands the indigenous Pictish population may have been entirely replaced by Viking settlers from Denmark. Numerous Viking settlements sprang up both east and west of present-day Cheshire County where our Tattenhall Wilsons were to be centered. Scotland did not regain administrative control of all of these lands until 1469, and the language called Norn, the Norse dialect of Shetland and Orkney, survived there until the 19th century.

The Wilson family of Ayrshire was a Covenanting Protestant family. (“Covenanters” were adherents of the “National Covenant,” a 1638 agreement among Scottish Presbyterians to uphold their faith.) The name is also seen in the land of Kintyre (a peninsula between Scotland and Ireland) where the Ayrshire Wilsons who were Covenanters settled and were given farm land.

http://www.minrec.org/wilson/pdfs/02.%20Ancient%20Origins%20of%20Wi...