The surname מענדעלסאן is transliterated to English as Mendelssohn, Mendelsson, Mendelson, or Mandelson. It is a common Polish/German Jewish surname. The variant spellings are used interchangeably, often even within a single family.

The name means son of Mendel ("Mendel's son"), or son of Menachem, as Mendel is a Yiddish diminutive of the Hebrew given name Menahem. Hebrew: מנחם Menachem itself means "consoling" or "one who consoles".

the Mendelssohn family starting with Jewish philosopher Moses Mendelssohn (1729–1786),

a significant figure in the Age of Enlightenment in Germany, and his descendants:

• Joseph Mendelssohn (1770–1848), German Jewish banker, son of Moses, founder of Mendelssohn & Co.
• Abraham Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1776–1835), German Jewish banker, son of Moses, father of Fanny and Felix
• Brendel Mendelssohn (1763–1839), daughter of Moses, married (i) Simon Veit, (ii) Friedrich Schlegel
• Fanny Mendelssohn (1805–1847), noted early Romantic composer and pianist, daughter of Abraham
• Felix Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1809–1847), noted early Romantic composer, son of Abraham
• Rebecka Mendelssohn (1811–1858), daughter of Abraham, married Lejeune Dirichlet, German mathematician
• Paul Mendelssohn Bartholdy (1841–1880), German chemist, son of Felix
• Arnold Mendelssohn (1855–1933), great-grandson of Moses, composer and music teacher

Others

• Anna Mendelssohn (1948–2009), British political activist and poet
• Felix Bartholdy Mendelssohn (1911–1952), British band leader
• George Mendelssohn-Bartholdy, founder of Vox Records label in 1945
• Heinrich Mendelssohn (1881–1959), German building tycoon
• Kurt Mendelssohn (1906–1980), German-born British medical physicist
• Vladimir Mendelssohn (1949–2021), Dutch-Romanian composer, violist, and professor

• Paul Benjamin Mendelsohn (born 1969), Australian actor and musician
• Carol Mendelsohn (born 1951), Canadian-Am. TV writer
• Carolyn Mendelsohn, English portrait photographer
• Daniel Mendelsohn (born 1960), American author and classics scholar
• Erich Mendelsohn (1887–1953), Am./British-Prussian architect
• Everett Mendelsohn (1931–2023), American historian
• Fred Mendelsohn (1917–2000), US promoter of black gospel music, president of Savoy Records
• Jonathan Mendelsohn, Baron (born 1966), British lobbyist and Labour political organiser
• Matthew Mendelsohn (birthdate unknown), Canadian civil servant
• Nathan Mendelsohn (1917–2006), Canadian mathematician
• Nicola Mendelsohn (born 1971), British advertising executive
• Robert Mendelsohn (disambiguation), multiple people

• Curtis Lester Mendelson (1913–2002), American cardiologist who first described pneumonia called Mendelson's syndrome
• Elliott Mendelson (1931–2020), American logician, known for the Mendelson axiom schemata for propositional Logic
• Mira Mendelson (1914–1968), Russian poet, second wife of Sergei Prokofiev
• Paul Mendelson, British scriptwriter for television, film and radio
• Phil Mendelson (born 1952), Washington, D.C., politician
• Shari Mendelson (born 1961), American sculptor

• Ben Mandelson (born 1953), English world musician
• Peter Mandelson (born 1953), British Labour politician
• Nathan Menderson (1820–1904), German-born American business/baseball executive

• Mandel, surname list
• Mandelson (surname)
• Menderson
• Menachem Mendel, name list
• Mendelssohn (disambiguation)