Parent’s name

Andersen surname meaning

A Norwegian, Danish, and North German patronymic meaning “son of Anders,” Anders being a vernacular form of Andreas (Andrew).

Confidence: High
US frequency: Rank 936 · 36,548 people
Common variants: Andersen, Anderson, Anderssen, Andersson

The short story

Andersen is a Norwegian, Danish, and North German patronymic meaning “son of Anders.” Anders is a vernacular form of Andreas, the Greek name behind English Andrew. The -sen ending is the usual Scandinavian “son” marker, parallel to English Anderson and Swedish Andersson; Anderssen is a related spelling. Some Scottish Anderson lines are etymologically the same name under a different orthography. Parent’s name is high confidence for the Anders/Andreas patronymic that DAFN and standard Scandinavian references agree on; spelling with -sen rather than -son mainly signals Danish or Norwegian transmission into American records.

Also seen as: Andersen, Anderson, Anderssen, Andersson

Sources used

Ancestry / DAFN entry for Andersen (patronymic from Anders ← Andreas)
Wikipedia “Andersen” (Danish–Norwegian ‘son of Anders’)
Names2020_LastNames_RaceHispanic_Top1000.xlsx (2020 Census)