Family name origins & meanings
- Scottish : habitational name from a place in the parish of New Deer in Aberdeenshire. This was probably named with the Old English elements earn ‘eagle’ + sīde ‘side’ (of a hill).
- English : possibly from Middle English irenside (Old English īren ‘iron’ + sīde ‘side’), a nickname for an iron-clad warrior. The best-known bearer of this nickname (not as a surname) was Edmund Ironside, who was briefly king of England in 1016.