Magnus Family History

German, Flemish, and Walloon: from the personal name Magnus, which is from the Latin adjective magnus ‘great’ or a Latinized form of a short form of ancient Germanic compound names based on the element magan ‘strength, might’. The name was borne by several early Christian saints, including St. Magnus (8th century), a monk in St. Gallen in Switzerland and missionary in Allgäu in southern Germany, whose real name was Magnoald. This surname is also found in France (Alsace and Lorraine).

In Belgium, it may also be a Latinized (humanistic) form of Walloon Legrand. English, Scottish, Swedish, Danish, Norwegian, and North German: from the Scandinavian personal name Magnus, borne by Magnus the Good (died 1047), king of Norway and Denmark, who was named for the Emperor Charlemagne, Latin Carolus Magnus ‘Charles the Great’, under the impression that Magnus was a personal name.

The name spread from Norway to the eastern Scandinavian royal houses and became popular all over Scandinavia and thence in the English Danelaw. It has also been adopted as a Jewish name.