Is There a Tennison Coat of Arms?

Ask a genealogist about Tennison and the first name they will mention is Tennyson. Taken at its root, Tennison points to “Son of Dennis”. Only a small detail separates the spellings: Tennison has “i” where Tennyson has “y”. Regional accents shaped spellings long before dictionaries fixed them. The same family of names includes Tenison.

According to the 2010 US Census, the Tennison surname had 3,169 bearers. Names that sound alike, such as Dennison, are easily confused in old records.

A coat of arms belongs to a particular family line rather than to everyone named Tennison, so the heraldry linked to Tennyson is a starting point, not an automatic right. Research your Tennison family history with a full surname report and painted coat of arms.