Meaning & Origin
Karlson is a boy's baby name of Scandinavian origin, a Swedish and Norwegian patronymic surname meaning 'son of Karl' — and Karl itself from the Germanic Karl, meaning 'free man.' It is also the name of the beloved flying character in Astrid Lindgren's Swedish children's book series Karlsson on the Roof (1955), where Karlsson is a plump, self-assured little man with a propeller on his back.
Karlson carries the cheerful mischief of Lindgren's beloved character — the quintessential Scandinavian confidence that you are, in fact, 'the best in the world at everything.' A name of Nordic warmth and irrepressible self-assurance.