This surname is derived from a nickname. 'the iron-side,' a sobriquet for some strong, thick-ribbed man. History is familiar with Cromwell's Ironsides. But it must not be forgotten that Durham is a large centre of the haematite industry, and that -side is a common local suffix in that district (v. Akenside). Therefore it might well be that Iron-side simply meant 'at the side of the iron lode,' or 'pit.'

John Ironside, mercer, 8 Edward III: Freemen of York.

1577. Ralph Ironsyde, County Durham: Register of the University of Oxford.

1604. Gilbert Ironside, Gloucestershire: ibid.

Gilbert Ironside, 1661, bishop of Bristol: Crockford's Clerical Directory.

1683-6. William Pawlett and Martha Ironside: Marriage Alleg. (Canterbury).

There is a place Ironside at New Deer, Aberdeenshire, and a farm called Earnside in Moray. At Black Ironside, or Earnside, near Newburgh, Fife, Wallace is said to have gained a victory over the English and drove them out of Fife. The surname most probably originated from the Aberdeenshire place. In the eighteenth century the surname was very common in the district of New Deer. Mage Irynsyd was banished from Aberdeen in 1570 (CRA., p. 368), Patrick Irnesyde in Tarnehill was a victim of the Aberdeen witches in 1597 (SCM., I, p. 133), and James Irnesyde, at the old mill c Foveran, was accused in 1627 of being an 'idle and masterless man" (RPC.). Edmund Yrinsyde who witnessed a quit-claim of the land of Drumkarauch in 1260 (RPSA., p. 346) may have derived his name from Earnside near Newburgh. Thomas Ironside was a minor poet of the nineteenth century. Andrew Jamieson Ironside was a land surveyor in 1870, and four men named Ironside from Turriff and New Byth served in the first Great War (Turriff). Dr. G. E. Ironside, a native of Aberdeen, published the first Greek book printed in New York, the Institutio Gtaecae grammaticis, 1817.

(English) a nickname for a Brave, Strong Soldier [Old English írensíd(e - íren, iron + síd(e, side; síd, big] Eádmund cing Irensíd wæs geclypod for his snellscipe.

(Eadmund the king was called Ironside for his doughtiness).— A.-Saxon Citron., A.D. 1057.

A title of valour, well-known amongst us, from the days of the Saxon Edward, to those of Cromwell's ' Ironsides,' and since, whenever we speak of a robust person. Berry attributes five coats to this surname.