Where the Olson name comes from

Olson is a patronymic surname of Scandinavian origin, and it literally means son of Olaf or Ole. A patronymic is a name taken from the father, so the first Olsons were the sons of a man called Olaf or Ole. The same name is also spelled Olsen, Oleson and Olsson.

In the United States, Olson became the usual anglicized form of Swedish Olsson and of Danish and Norwegian Olsen, all of which mean son of Olaf. It is a patrilineal surname, handed down through the father's line, and the American spelling came out of Swedish. The 2010 United States Census recorded 164,035 people with the name, placing Olson 157th among the country's surnames.