Heron is a surname originating in England and Ireland during the Middle Ages.
This name is believed to have more than one origin. It is most commonly derived as nickname for a tall, thin man with long legs from Middle English heiroun/heyron itself coming from Old French hairon. The surname may also be of Anglo-Saxon origin, and an habitual name from Harome in North Yorkshire, meaning "(place of) the stone".
In Ireland, this surname is often an Anglicised form of any one of three Irish Gaelic names: "O'hEarain", descendant of the feared one; "O'Huidhrin", descendant of the swarthy one; or "Mac GiollaChiarain", son of the servant of St. Ciaran. The name Heron can also come from Ó Eachthighearna, which means "descendant of the horse lord".
An early recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William de Herun, which was dated 1150, in the "Pipe Rolls of Yorkshire".
Brian Heron (born 1948), Scottish footballer
Edward Heron-Allen (1861–1943), English writer, scientist and Persian scholar
Francis Heron (1853–1914), English footballer
Francis Arthur Heron (1864–1940), English entomologist
George Heron (1919-2011), President of the Seneca Nation of Indians
Gil Scott-Heron (1949–2011), American poet and civil rights activist
Giles Heron (1504-1540), English politician
Hubert Heron (1852–1914), English footballer
Sir John Heron (1470–1522), English courtier during reigns of Henry VII and Henry VIII
John Heron (born 1928), social scientist
John Heron-Maxwell (1836–1899), Scottish Liberal politician
Martin Wilkes Heron (1850–1920), bartender and creator of Southern Comfort
Mary Heron (fl. 1786-1792), English writer
Matilda Heron (1830–1877), popular Irish-American actress
Mike Heron (born 1942), Scottish musician and composer
Patrick Heron (died 1761), Scottish politician, MP for Kirkcudbright Stewartry 1727–41
Patrick Heron (1736–1803), Scottish politician and banker, MP for Kirkcudbright Stewartry 1795–1803
Patrick Heron (1920–1999), St Ives, Cornwall, painter
Sir Richard Heron, 1st Baronet (1726–1805), Chief Secretary for Ireland
Sir Robert Heron, 2nd Baronet (1765–1854), British Whig politician, Member of Parliament (MP) for Great Grimsby 1812–18 and Peterborough 1819–47
Robert Heron (1764–1807), Scottish writer
Samuel Dalziel Heron, (S.D. Heron) (1893-1965), aero engineer
Susanna Heron, (born 1949), British artist who works primarily between drawing, sculpture, scale and movement
