A patronymic surname, from occupations for a son of a scribe or priest.
"The historian traced the family's origin to an ancient clan known as clarkson, reflecting their descent from a scribe's son."
The name Clarkson combines the Old French word clerk, meaning a cleric or scholar, with the suffix -son to mean "son of a clerk." It entered English through this Middle English formation rather than being borrowed directly from another language in its modern form.