The Origins of the family name Simpson

The ancient Anglo-Saxon surname Simpson came from the baptismal name Simon, which was originally derived from the Hebrew word Shimeon meaning obedience.
In the religious naming tradition surnames were bestowed in honor of religious figures or church officials. In Europe, the Christian Church was one of the most powerful influences on the formation of given names. Personal names derived from the names of saints, apostles, biblical figures, and missionaries are widespread in most European countries. In the Middle Ages, they became increasingly popular because people believed that the souls of the deceased continued to be involved in this world. They named their children after saints in the hope that the child would be blessed or protected by the saint.
Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people.
Known variations of the Simpson family name include Simpson, Simson, Simsoun, Symson, Symsoun and many more.
First found in Buckinghamshire where they held a family seat from ancient times.
For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the American colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived.
Early immigrants bearing the Simpson surname or a spelling variation of the name include : Henry Simpson who settled in Maine in 1635;
John and Joe Simpson settled in Boston in 1635;
Robert Simpson settled in Maryland in 1633;
another Robert Simpson settled in Salem in 1630.
Motto ‘Nil desperandum’, Translated: ‘Never despairing’