The surname Lawson is in and northern English regions. In Old English, the term law meant a burial mound. Lawson is a form of the surname Law. The surname Law is also a version of the name Lawrence. In Sweden the surname is Larsson.

Most with the surname Lawson worked as farmers in the 1880s.

The majority of Lawson families came from England, Scotland, Ireland and Sweden. In England most Lawson individuals live in the northeast counties of Yorkshire, Durham Northumberland and Lancashire.

In the United States the Lawson families primarily live in California, Texas, Georgia, Tennessee, Kentucky, Virginia, Illinois, Ohio, Missouri, Pennsylvania, New York and Massachusetts.

Famous: Cecil Gordon Lawson (landscape painter), James Earl Lawson (Canadian Member of Parliament), Robert Lawson (writer and illustrator), Harry John Lawson (British engineer and motor industry pioneer), Maggie Lawson (actress), John Lawson (naturalist and explorer) and William Lawson (explorer who discovered a route across the Blue Mountains in western region by Sydney, Australia).