Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “Dobson” come from?

Dobson is an English surname derived from Anglo-Norman Robert, originally a personal name meaning "bright fame" that became a patronymic surname through the addition of the English suffix -son.

Ancestry of “Dobson”, step by step

StepLanguageWordMeaning
1English-sonAdded to a stem to form a patronymic or...
2Middle English-son—
3Middle English-esAlternative form of -yssh; Alternative form of...
4Old English-espossessive marker, indicating that an object...
5Proto-Germanic-as—
6Proto-Indo-European-ēsPrimarily forms adjectival bahuvrīhi compounds
7Proto-Indo-European-ess—
8Proto-Indo-European-osCreates action nouns or result nouns from verbs;...
Every word from Proto-Indo-European -os →