This unusual surname is of medieval English origin, and is a patronymic form of the male given name Amery, itself coming from a German personal name composed of the elements "amal", bravery, vigour, and "ric", power, introduced into England by the Normans. "Amalricus" (without surname) appears in the Domesday Book of 1086. In Old French the given name had a profusion of different forms including: Amalri(c), Aumari(c), Amauri, Emaurri, Haimeri and Ymeri, and several of these are reflected in the variants of the surname. One Roger Hemeri was recorded circa 1182, in the Chartulary of St. Mary, Clerkenwell, and a Robert Emeri was noted in the Calendar of the Patent Rolls, Leicestershire, dated 1223. The patronymic form of the name emerges in the early 15th Century (see below). In 1498, one Cuthbert Emerson was entered in the Register of the Freemen of the City of York, and in the modern idiom the name is spelt: Emmerson, Emerson and Emberson. On November 27th 1585, Anthonye Emberson and Barbarye Fayrbarne were married at Christ Church Greyfriars, Newgate, London. The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William Emeryson, which was dated 1411, in the "Charters of the Priory of Finchale", Durham, during the reign of King Henry 1V, known as "Henry of Bolingbroke", 1399 - 1413. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.

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