COMPSON
Compson is an English surname that originates from the Old English personal name Cumpa or Cumbra, which means companion or fellow. The addition of the suffix -son indicates son of, so the name translates as son of Cumpa or son of Cumbra. It is a classic patronymic surname derived directly from an ancestor’s given name.
The surname has appeared in a number of variant spellings, including Kumpson, Cumpson, Campson, Comson and Combeson. In the medieval period the name is also recorded as Cempa (modern kempe), a byname that meant warrior or wrestler. Early witnesses include Eadulf Cempa in the Wiltshire register of 902, Edmund Kempe in Norfolk records circa 1100, and Robert Campe in the Warwickshire Pipe Rolls of 1195. A later appearance is that of John Campe or John Kempe in the Dorset Pipe Rolls of 1205.
The earliest recorded spelling of the family name as it is now known is shown in the baptismal register of John Kumpson on 10 February 1627 in Landkey, Derbyshire, during the reign of King Charles the First. Subsequent civil baptisms and marriages in England, such as that of Anne Comson and Richard Jenkinson in St Dunstan’s, East London on 2 April 1627, and of Jane Campson and Richard Fisher in St James, Dukes Place, London on 4 September 1683, demonstrate the continued use of the surname and its variants through the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries.
A locational explanation for the name is also documented. The surname derives from the Old English place‑name cumb's-tun, meaning a den or enclosure belonging to a man named Cumb. Several English locations were recorded as Cumbestun, and the Compson family was historically associated with the Cumbestun landowners who held estates in Hertfordshire and Essex. The surname was therefore often applied to individuals living near or on the manor of the Cumbestun family, or to those employed by or providing services to that household. By the nineteenth century a number of families bearing the name had settled throughout Britain, and some had emigrated to America and Australia.
In the United Kingdom the name is now less common, but still extant, especially in Northern England and some parts of Scotland. In the United States the surname is comparatively widespread; it can be found in communities spread across the country, with particular concentrations in the Southern states such as Texas, Georgia, Florida, and Alabama. The distribution pattern is consistent with the migration of English and Irish settlers during the seventeenth to nineteenth centuries, though further historical research would be required to confirm the precise origins of each family line.
Variations of the surname are numerous. The name has evolved into forms such as Combeson, Combison, Comcison, Composon, Compston, Comson, Compsen, Cobson, Cobbs and Cuisson, many of which reflect regional phonetic shifts or attempts to anglicise Gaelic or Norse origins. In Scotland the variant Combeson is also attested, derived from Old Norse meaning son of Combe or Cumb. In Ireland forms such as Compeson (from the Gaelic Ó Commeiscín) and Cumsen (from Mac Comiskey) represent Gaelic adaptations of the surname. Additional Scandinavian forms include Cumberson and Kumpson, derived from Old Norse or Swedish roots meaning son of Cumb or son of Kumpe. All of these variants ultimately trace back to the Latin root columba, meaning dove, via the medieval given names Combe or Cumb.
Typical given names associated with the Compson surname
Male
- Andrew
- Christopher
- Darren
- Ian
- John
- Jonathan
- Paul
- Richard
- Robert
- Stuart
- William
Female
- Annabelle
- Cheryl
- Elizabeth
- Emma
- Irene
- Jacqueline
- Jennifer
- Julie
- Margaret
- Sarah
Similar and related surnames
Related and similar names are generated algorithmically based on the spelling, and may not necessarily share an etymology.
How to communicate the surname Compson in...
Braille
⠉⠕⠍⠏⠎⠕⠝
Morse
-.-.-----.--....----.
Semaphore
There are approximately 287 people named Compson in the UK. That makes it one of Britain's least common surnames. Only around four in a million people in Britain are named Compson.
Famous people named Compson
- For the American actress Betty Compson - American actress (1904 to 1944)
Names and descriptions courtesy of Wikipedia, and may contain errors. This is not intended to be an exhaustive list of every famous person with this name.