NameCensus.

UK surname

Jameson

An anglicized form of the Gaelic surname Ó Séamuis, meaning "descendant of Séamus" (James).

In the 1881 census there were 3,306 people recorded with the Jameson surname, ranking it #1,370 among surnames in the records. By 2016, the modern count was 3,869, ranked #1,747, down from #1,370 in 1881.

The strongest historical links point to Fetlar and Yell, London parishes and Gateshead. In the modern distribution records, the strongest local clusters include Northumberland, Sunderland and Harrogate.

Across the surname records, the highest recorded count for Jameson is 3,941 in 2010. Compared with 1881, the name has grown by 17.0%.

1881 census count

3,306

Ranked #1,370

Modern count

3,869

2016, ranked #1,747

Peak year

2010

3,941 bearers

Map years

9

1851 to 2016

Key insights

  • Jameson had 3,306 recorded bearers in 1881, making it the #1,370 surname in that year.
  • The latest modern count shown here is 3,869 in 2016, ranked #1,747.
  • Within the historical census years, the highest count was 3,803 in 1901.
  • The contemporary neighbourhood profile most associated with the surname is Rural Amenity.

Jameson surname distribution map

The map shows where the Jameson surname is concentrated in each census or modern distribution year. Darker areas mean a stronger local concentration.

Distribution map

Jameson surname density by area, 1881 census.

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Lower densityMedium densityHigh density

Timeline

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Jameson over time

The table below tracks recorded surname counts and rank from the 19th-century census years through the modern adult-register period.

Year Period Count Rank
1851 historical 3,176 #909
1861 historical 2,888 #1,003
1881 historical 3,306 #1,370
1891 historical 3,508 #1,360
1901 historical 3,803 #1,477
1911 historical 3,611 #1,446
1997 modern 3,835 #1,697
1998 modern 3,933 #1,719
1999 modern 3,930 #1,730
2000 modern 3,895 #1,737
2001 modern 3,764 #1,753
2002 modern 3,876 #1,746
2003 modern 3,688 #1,797
2004 modern 3,675 #1,801
2005 modern 3,658 #1,785
2006 modern 3,656 #1,787
2007 modern 3,701 #1,784
2008 modern 3,723 #1,781
2009 modern 3,822 #1,776
2010 modern 3,941 #1,765
2011 modern 3,849 #1,784
2012 modern 3,785 #1,776
2013 modern 3,870 #1,771
2014 modern 3,917 #1,757
2015 modern 3,847 #1,764
2016 modern 3,869 #1,747

Geography

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Where Jamesons are most common

Historical parish links are strongest around Fetlar and Yell, London parishes, Gateshead, Edinburgh and Sandsting and Aithsting. These are the places where the surname stands out most clearly in the older records.

The modern local-area list points to Northumberland, Sunderland, Harrogate and Darlington. Treat these as concentration signals, not proof that every family line began there.

Some modern areas include a three-digit suffix, such as Leeds 110. The suffix is a small-area code, so it stays in the table while the prose uses the plain place name.

Top historical parishes

Rank Parish Area
1 Fetlar and Yell Shetland
2 London parishes London 3
3 Gateshead Durham
4 Edinburgh Edinburgh
5 Sandsting and Aithsting Shetland

Top modern areas

Rank Area District
1 Northumberland 037 Northumberland
2 Sunderland 002 Sunderland
3 Harrogate 004 Harrogate
4 Darlington 004 Darlington
5 Harrogate 001 Harrogate

Forenames

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First names often paired with Jameson

These lists show first names that appear often with the Jameson surname in historical and recent records.

Modern profile

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Neighbourhood profile for Jameson

Modern surname records can be compared with neighbourhood classifications. For Jameson, this points to the kinds of places where the surname is most concentrated today.

These neighbourhood labels describe areas, not individual people. They are useful because surnames often cluster through family history, migration, housing patterns and local work. A surname can be strongest in one type of neighbourhood even when people with that name live across the country.

The UK classification gives the national picture. The London classification is more specific to the capital, where housing, age profile, tenure and population mix can look quite different from the rest of the UK.

UK neighbourhood type

UK Output Area Classification

Supergroup

Suburbanites and Peri-Urbanities

Group

Rural Amenity

Nationally, the Jameson surname is most associated with neighbourhoods classed as Rural Amenity, within Suburbanites and Peri-Urbanities. This does not mean every Jameson household fits that profile, but it gives a useful signal about where the modern surname distribution is strongest.

Read profile summary

Group profile

This Group comprises older parents or retirees, with no resident dependent children, and with the lowest residential densities in this Supergroup. Predominantly UK-born, residents typically live in detached houses, although others do live in semi-detached and terraced properties. The level of multiple car ownership is the highest in this Supergroup. Most houses are owner occupied although social renting is also present. Many concentrations occur in high amenity rural locations, such as Areas of Outstanding Natural Beauty.

Wider pattern

Pervasive throughout the UK, members of this Supergroup typically own (or are buying) their detached, semi-detached or terraced homes. They are also typically educated to A Level/Highers or degree level and work in skilled or professional occupations. Typically born in the UK, some families have children, although the median adult age is above 45 and some property has become under-occupied after children have left home. This Supergroup is pervasive not only in suburban locations, but also in neighbourhoods at or beyond the edge of cities that adjoin rural parts of the country.

London neighbourhood type

London Output Area Classification

Supergroup

The Greater London Mix

Group

Social Rented Sector Professional Support Workers

Within London, Jameson is most associated with areas classed as Social Rented Sector Professional Support Workers, part of The Greater London Mix. This gives the surname a London-specific profile rather than forcing the capital into the same pattern as the rest of the country.

Read profile summary

Group profile

Mainly located in Inner London, these neighbourhoods retain a diverse employment structure, with some concentration in associated professional and technical occupations rather than skilled trades or construction. Social renting is more common and levels of homeownership are low. Many residents identify as Black. There is a lower than average rate of marriage or civil partnership, few that are very old (85 or over) and higher than average incidence of disability.

Wider London pattern

A Supergroup embodying London's diversity in many respects, apart from low numbers of residents identifying as of Bangladeshi, Indian, Pakistani or Other (non-Chinese) Asian ethnicity. There is lower than average prevalence of families with dependent children, while there are above average occurrences of never-married individuals and single-person households. The age distribution is skewed towards younger, single residents and couples without children, with many individuals identifying as of mixed or multiple ethnicity. Social rented or private rented housing is slightly more prevalent than average, and many residents live in flats. Individuals typically work in professional and associated roles in public administration, education or health rather than in elementary occupations in agriculture, energy, water, construction or manufacturing. Incidence of students is slightly below average. Individuals declaring no religion are more prevalent than average and non-use of English at home is below average.

Healthy neighbourhoods

Access to healthy assets and hazards

Jameson is most concentrated in decile 10 for access to healthy assets and hazards. This places the surname towards the healthier end of the index.

Lower deciles point towards weaker access to healthy assets or stronger exposure to local hazards. Higher deciles point towards stronger access and fewer hazards.

10
Lower access Higher access

Neighbourhood deprivation

Index of Multiple Deprivation

Jameson falls in decile 5 for neighbourhood deprivation. This puts the surname near the middle of the scale.

Decile 1 represents the more deprived end of the scale. Decile 10 represents the less deprived end.

5
More deprived Less deprived

Broadband speed

Fixed broadband download speed

The modern neighbourhood pattern for Jameson is most associated with a typical fixed broadband download band of 30-40 mbit/s.

The scale below places that band in context, from slower local download bands through to faster ones.

6
Slower band Faster band

Area snapshot

Ethnic group estimate

Most common ethnic group estimate
White - British

This describes the area pattern most associated with Jameson, not the ethnicity of every person with the surname.

Meaning and origin of 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".

Sourced from namecensus.com.

1881 census detail

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Jameson families in the 1881 census

These tables use 1881 census entries for people recorded with the Jameson surname. Use the location tables for concentration, then the name and occupation tables for the people behind the surname.

Top counties

Total is the county count. Frequency and index adjust for local population size, so they are better concentration signals. Lancashire leads with 542 Jamesons recorded in 1881 and an index of 1.41x.

County Total Index
Lancashire 542 1.41x
Durham 521 5.42x
Yorkshire 324 1.01x
Northumberland 318 6.61x
Shetland 306 92.68x
Middlesex 303 0.94x
Surrey 102 0.65x
Midlothian 89 2.06x
Kent 68 0.62x
Cheshire 66 0.92x
Lanarkshire 61 0.58x
Aberdeenshire 60 2.00x
Essex 49 0.77x
Warwickshire 38 0.47x
Hampshire 36 0.54x
Westmorland 34 4.79x
Sussex 31 0.57x
Devon 26 0.39x
Perthshire 24 1.65x
Cumberland 18 0.65x
Staffordshire 18 0.16x
Gloucestershire 17 0.27x
Kirkcudbrightshire 17 3.63x
Berkshire 14 0.58x
Clackmannanshire 14 5.24x
Morayshire 14 2.79x
Wiltshire 14 0.49x
Worcestershire 13 0.31x
Angus 12 0.40x
Ayrshire 12 0.50x
Lincolnshire 12 0.23x
Shropshire 12 0.43x
Glamorgan 9 0.16x
Huntingdonshire 9 1.40x
Monmouthshire 9 0.39x
Renfrewshire 9 0.36x
Caernarfonshire 8 0.61x
Fife 8 0.42x
Nottinghamshire 8 0.18x
Stirlingshire 8 0.67x
Cambridgeshire 6 0.29x
Dorset 6 0.28x
Dunbartonshire 5 0.58x
Leicestershire 5 0.14x
Argyllshire 4 0.44x
Royal Navy 4 1.04x
Somerset 4 0.08x
West Lothian 4 0.82x
Berwickshire 3 0.77x
Wigtownshire 3 0.70x
Buteshire 2 1.02x
Channel Islands 2 0.21x
Inverness-shire 2 0.21x
Bedfordshire 1 0.06x
Buckinghamshire 1 0.05x
Derbyshire 1 0.02x
Flintshire 1 0.12x
Herefordshire 1 0.08x
Hertfordshire 1 0.04x
Isle of Man 1 0.17x
Oxfordshire 1 0.05x
Roxburghshire 1 0.17x
Suffolk 1 0.03x

Top districts and towns

Districts give a more local view than counties. Total shows raw records, while frequency and index show local concentration. Nesting Lunnas Whalsay in Shetland leads with 83 Jamesons recorded in 1881 and an index of 285.32x.

Place Total Index
Nesting Lunnas Whalsay 83 285.32x
Dunrossness 65 149.53x
Hedworth Monkton Jarrow 56 13.44x
Bishopwearmouth 41 4.97x
Barony 38 1.44x
Wigan 38 7.09x
Darlington 36 9.69x
Islington London 36 1.15x
Northmavine 34 135.24x
Newcastle On Tyne All Sts 32 11.14x
Elswick 31 8.08x
Manchester 31 1.80x
Westoe 31 5.69x
Bermondsey 30 3.12x
Delting 30 161.55x
Ashton In Makerfield 29 26.55x
Bedford 29 36.14x
Aberdeen Old Machar 27 4.32x
Lambeth 27 0.96x
Leeds 27 1.49x
Ponteland 27 545.45x
Widnes 27 9.76x
Hackney London 26 1.43x
Eccleston In Prescot 23 11.94x
Walls 23 143.66x
Hunstonworth 22 395.68x
Gateshead 21 2.92x
Barton Upon Irwell 20 6.93x
Edinburgh St Cuthberts 20 1.15x
South Leith 19 3.90x
Kensington London 18 1.00x
Monkwearmouth Shore 17 9.06x
Woolwich 17 4.17x
Yell Mid 17 155.82x
Byker 16 6.73x
St Pancras London 16 0.61x
Acomb 15 128.31x
Bootle Cum Linacre 15 4.92x
Kendal 15 11.53x
Little Bolton 15 3.04x
Liverpool 15 0.64x
St Marylebone London 15 0.87x
Wallsend 15 9.83x
Wanstead 15 13.42x
Warden 15 152.59x
Westgate 15 5.04x
Clerkenwell London 14 1.83x
Crook Billy Row 14 11.37x
Everton 14 1.15x
Longbenton 14 6.87x
Monquhitter 14 45.16x
Shoreditch London 14 1.00x
Tillicoultry 14 23.57x
Unst 14 57.97x
West Ham 14 0.99x
Wolverhampton 14 1.67x
Bilton Cum Harrogate 13 11.87x
Greenwich 13 2.53x
Lytham 13 22.20x
Stranton 13 4.02x
Thornley 13 37.36x
Armley 12 8.49x
Aston 12 0.53x
Borgue 12 95.54x
Camberwell 12 0.58x
Chelsea London 12 1.23x
Edinburgh St Stephens 12 14.08x
Govan 12 0.46x
Berwick Upon Tweed 11 10.79x
Birmingham 11 0.40x
Edgbaston 11 4.35x
Hexham 11 14.78x
Penrith 11 10.70x
Portsea 11 0.85x
Salford 11 0.98x
St George In East London 11 3.62x
Tudhoe 11 13.07x
Walls Sandness Papa 11 390.07x
West Derby 11 0.98x
Westminster St Margaret 11 7.05x

Top female names

These are the female first names most often recorded with the Jameson surname in 1881. Names are not merged, so initials, variant spellings and transcription quirks can appear as separate rows.

Name Count
Mary 185
Elizabeth 120
Jane 104
Margaret 90
Sarah 58
Ellen 49
Ann 46
Isabella 38
Eliza 36
Annie 35
Hannah 33
Alice 32
Emily 27
Emma 26
Catherine 16
Martha 16
Ada 13
Frances 12
Kate 11
Maria 11
Anne 10
Caroline 10
Dorothy 10
Agnes 9
Eleanor 9
Fanny 9
Florence 9
Grace 9
Louisa 9
Amelia 8
Charlotte 8
Edith 8
Harriet 8
Janet 8
Rebecca 8
Clara 7
Elizth. 7
Esther 7
Christina 6
Ethel 6
Jessie 6
Lucy 6
Matilda 6
Susan 6
Helen 4
Laura 4
Lousia 4
Lydia 4
Minnie 4
Rachel 4

Top male names

These are the male first names most often recorded with the Jameson surname in 1881. Names are not merged, so initials, variant spellings and transcription quirks can appear as separate rows.

Name Count
William 182
John 174
Thomas 141
James 96
George 70
Robert 62
Joseph 40
Henry 36
Edward 30
Charles 25
Richard 21
Alfred 20
Walter 17
Arthur 15
Peter 15
Frederick 14
Andrew 13
Samuel 13
Frank 11
Christopher 10
Thos. 10
Harry 9
Ralph 8
Alexander 7
Benjamin 7
Hugh 7
Edwin 6
Francis 6
Matthew 6
Wm. 6
Albert 5
David 5
Geo. 5
Gilbert 5
Robt. 5
Aaron 4
Fred 4
Herbert 4
Mark 4
A. 3
Anthony 3
Fredrick 3
Jacob 3
Jas. 3
Joshua 3
Malcolm 3
Mathew 3
Tom 3
Chas. 2
Cumberland 2

FAQ

Jameson surname: questions and answers

How common was the Jameson surname in 1881?

In 1881, 3,306 people were recorded with the Jameson surname. That placed it at #1,370 in the surname rankings for that year.

How common is the Jameson surname today?

The latest modern count shown here is 3,869 in 2016. That gives Jameson a modern rank of #1,747.

What does the Jameson surname mean?

An anglicized form of the Gaelic surname Ó Séamuis, meaning "descendant of Séamus" (James).

What does the Jameson map show?

The map shows local surname concentration for the selected year. Darker areas have a stronger concentration of Jameson bearers relative to the surrounding population.

What records is this surname page based on?

The historical counts come from census surname records. The modern counts and neighbourhood summaries come from later surname distribution records. Counts are recorded bearers in those records, not a live estimate of everyone with the name today.