Jessop
An English surname from Joseph, with a form shaped by the Italian Giuseppe.
The #8,348 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 77,868 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Jessop is a patronymic surname built on the personal name Joseph, meaning “God will add” in Hebrew. Older English forms of Joseph produced spellings like Jesson and Jessup, while some writers thought Jessop was influenced by the Italian form Giuseppe. In practice, the name is best understood as an English surname from Joseph, with later continental influence likely affecting pronunciation and spelling in some places.
History
The surname appears in medieval and later English records in several close forms, including Jesson, Jessup, and Jessop. 19th- and early-20th-century writers often grouped it with other Joseph-derived surnames and sometimes pointed to Italian influence, especially in areas of contact with merchants and immigrants. It is now established mainly in England and in English-speaking countries overseas.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Some older surname writers treated Jessop as a heavily Anglicized version of Giuseppe, showing how foreign names could be reshaped in local English speech.
From the historical record
“JESSON. Jesse's son. JESSOP. From the Italian Giuseppe, Joseph ? JEUNE. Fr. " The young." JEVINGTON. A parish in Sussex. JEW. Doubtless from the nation of the primitive bearer. JE'WELL. Probably a corruption of the Fr. Jules, Julius.”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom