The Anderson meaning "son of Andrew" was the first of Jesus' disciples, and was a revered name in medieval times due to its church connections. St. Andrew is the patron saint of both Scotland and Russia.

Some encycopedias say the surname Anderson is the 12th most common surname according to the 2000 census. That means there are a whole lot of Anderson's waiting to be found and connected to the correct family.

Anderson, Andersson or Andersen is a surname deriving from the Greek name "Andreas", meaning man or manly). It has originated in parallel in Scotland and the Nordic countries.

In Scotland, the name was first found in the Great Glen and Strathspey, where the Anderson family was seated from ancient times. The name soon migrated to England.

In Sweden, the form Andersson (and also Anderson) is the second-most common name.

In Norway and Denmark, the form Andersen is quite common, being the fifth most common surname in both countries.

The Scandinavian forms Andersson and Andersen were often rendered as Anderson by immigrants to the English speaking countries, whereby the latter form become one of the most common American surnames. The name was eleventh most common surname reported in the 1990 United States census, accounting for 0.3% of the population. It is the twelfth most common surname reported in the 2000 United States Census. Anderson is also one of the most common surnames in Canada.

Other spelling variations include: Andison, Andersonne, Andersoun, Andirsoone, Andresoun, Androson, Andirston, Andresson, Andrewson, and Andresen.

The surname was brought independently to North America by many different bearers and was particularly common among 18th-century Scotch-Irish settlers in PA and VA. In the United States, it has absorbed many cognate or like-sounding names in other European languages, notably Swedish Andersson, Norwegian and Danish Andersen, but also Ukrainian Andreychyn, Hungarian Andrásfi, etc.