My Anderson Family

Owned by Liz Hardie
Last updated: Nov 07, 2019

My Anderson Family

The name Anderson is deriving from a patronymic meaning "son of Anders/Andrew" - itself derived from the Greek name "Andreas", meaning "man" or "manly". It originated in parallel in the British Isles and the Nordic countries.

In Scotland, the name first appeared in records of the 14th century as "Fitz Andreu" (meaning son of Andrew), and developed in various forms by the Scottish Gaelic patronymic of "MacGhilleAndrais" which means the servant of St. Andrew. Variations of this name were MacAndrew, Gillanders and Anderson. Given the patron saint of Scotland is St Andrew, the name is quite common there, with the largest grouping lies in the north-east of Scotland from the Mearns through Aberdeenshire, Banff and Moray.

It has been identified that our branch of the Anderson family originates in Midlothian Scotland in the early 1700s.  

The earliest known ancestor is John Anderson. It is his great great granddaughter Lillias Cockburn who emigrated to Australia with her family in 1883.

My Anderson ancestry goes back 9 generations and biographies exist for some members as indicated by links