Etymology Explorer › English

Where does “Paulson” come from?

Paulson is an English patronymic surname derived from Paul, which comes from Latin Paulus, ultimately from Proto-Indo-European peh₂w- meaning small or few.

Ancestry of “Paulson”, 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 →