Find out how popular the last name Jameson is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Jameson.

Jameson, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Jameson surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Jameson in America

Jameson is the 2715th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Jameson surname appeared 13,255 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 4 people would have the surname Jameson.

We can also compare 2010 data for Jameson to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Jameson

The surname Jameson is of Scottish origin, derived from the medieval personal name "James" combined with the patronymic suffix "-son", meaning "son of James". The name James itself is derived from the Latin name "Iacobus", which in turn came from the Hebrew name "Ya'aqov" or Jacob.

The earliest recorded instances of the name Jameson can be traced back to the late 12th century in Scotland. One of the earliest recorded bearers of the name was Robert Jamesson, who was listed in the Ragman Rolls of 1296, a record of Scottish landowners who swore fealty to King Edward I of England.

In the 15th century, the name Jameson was particularly prominent in the Scottish Lowlands, particularly in the counties of Lanarkshire and Renfrewshire. The name was also found in the Borders region and in parts of northern England, likely due to the movement of Scottish families across the border.

Notable historical figures with the surname Jameson include Robert Jameson (1774-1854), a Scottish naturalist and mineralogist who served as Regius Professor of Natural History at the University of Edinburgh. Another notable bearer of the name was Leander Starr Jameson (1853-1917), a British colonial administrator and leader of the famous Jameson Raid into the Transvaal in 1895.

In the literary world, the name Jameson is associated with the Irish novelist and playwright James Augustine Aloysius Joyce (1882-1941), who was given the middle name "Aloysius" in honor of the Jesuit priest Aloysius Gonzaga. Joyce's friend and fellow writer Francis Stuart (1902-2000) was also known by the pen name "Jameson".

Other notable bearers of the name include John Jameson (1773-1823), the founder of the Jameson Irish Whiskey distillery in Dublin, and Sir Leander Rees Jameson (1853-1917), a British colonial administrator and leader of the Jameson Raid.

While the surname Jameson is found globally today, its origins can be traced back to medieval Scotland, where it was initially derived from the personal name James and the patronymic suffix "-son".

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Jameson

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Jameson.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Jameson was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Jameson has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Jameson was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Jameson, please contact us.

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