This is an Irish surname, only apparently recorded in Ulster, and then only in the city and county of Londonderry, also known as Derry. It is presumably of English or Scottish origins, although if so, it is far from clear as to what the former spelling might have been. There is nothing quite like it in any of the surname dictionaries of the British Isles, and whilst the name is obviously a patronymic, the base or prefix name 'Ether' is not recorded anywhere else! Indeed so rare is the name that the only clue in the Irish dictionaries is as a possible derivation of the Norman-French surname 'Evers', which as d'Evere was brought into the country in 1169. This was when Strongbow, earl of Pembroke, lead an Anglo-Norman and Welsh army, which ultimately was to lead to the conquest of the whole country. The drawback to this conjecture is that there are no apparent recordings of the link name 'Everson' in Ireland. We have been able to obtain some early recordings of Etherson. All are from the village of Kilcrea, and include Patrick Etherson and his wife Catherine, whose daughter Eliza was christened on Septmber 16th 1864, and Neilly Etherson, who married Lara Diamond, on September 2nd 1866.

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