Acheson
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Frequency: (813)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
Variant of Scottish Atchison. This spelling is of Scottish origin, but since the 17th century has been especially common in northern Ireland.
FOREBEARS: Among the individuals who brought this name from northern Ireland to North America was John Acheson (d. 1791). He took up residence in Washington, DC, where he was joined by his brother Thomas c. 1786. John founded a business furnishing government troops with supplies in the Indian wars. Their ancestor Archibald Acheson had moved from Gosford, Haddington, Scotland, to Ulster in 1604, where he received lands from King James VI as part of the ‘plantation’ of Ulster by Protestant Scots.
A certain David Acheson emigrated from Ulster to North America in 1788 and had numerous prominent descendants.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
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Copyrights:
Oxford Dictionary of Family Names
Dictionary of American Family Names. Copyright © 2006 Patrick Hanks. All rights reserved.
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Mentioned in
Acheson, Dean Gooderham
(American statesman)
Wallace, De Witt
(American publisher)
Reader's Digest
(literature)
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