Jessie History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms
The origins of the name Jessie are from the ancient Anglo-Saxon culture of Britain. It is derived from the baptismal name for the son of Judd, which was a pet form for the Old English personal name Jordan.
Early Origins of the Jessie family
The surname Jessie was first found in Yorkshire where the Yorkshire Poll Tax Rolls of 1379 included Willelraus Gesson as holding lands there at that time. 1
"Jesson was the name of a minister of Prestwold in the reign of Elizabeth. Two centuries ago Sir William Jesson resided at Burleigh Park, Loughborough." 2
Early History of the Jessie family
This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Jessie research. Another 115 words (8 lines of text) covering the years 1580, 1603, 1628, 1640, 1648, 1651, 1661, 1663, 1790 and 1890 are included under the topic Early Jessie History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Jessie Spelling Variations
Sound was what guided spelling in the essentially pre-literate Middle Ages, so one person's name was often recorded under several variations during a single lifetime. Also, before the advent of the printing press and the first dictionaries, the English language was not standardized. Therefore, spelling variations were common, even among the names of the most literate people. Known variations of the Jessie family name include Jesson, Jessen, Gesson and others.
Early Notables of the Jessie family
Another 49 words (4 lines of text) are included under the topic Early Jessie Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Jessie Ranking
In the United States, the name Jessie is the 6,313rd most popular surname with an estimated 4,974 people with that name. 3
Migration of the Jessie family to Ireland
Some of the Jessie family moved to Ireland, but this topic is not covered in this excerpt.
Another 58 words (4 lines of text) about their life in Ireland is included in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.
Jessie migration to the United States +
For political, religious, and economic reasons, thousands of English families boarded ships for Ireland, the Canadas, the America colonies, and many of smaller tropical colonies in the hope of finding better lives abroad. Although the passage on the cramped, dank ships caused many to arrive in the New World diseased and starving, those families that survived the trip often went on to make valuable contributions to those new societies to which they arrived. Early immigrants bearing the Jessie surname or a spelling variation of the name include:
Jessie Settlers in United States in the 20th Century
- Samuel Jessie, who arrived in Mississippi in 1904 4
Contemporary Notables of the name Jessie (post 1700) +
- Obediah Donnell "Obie" Jessie (1936-2020), also known as Young Jessie, an American R&B, rock and roll and jazz singer and songwriter
- Jacqueline Jessie, American Democratic Party politician, Candidate for Arizona State Senate 3rd District, 2002 5
- Lillian Jessie Chrystall OBE (1926-2022), née Laidlaw, a New Zealand architect, the first woman to receive a national New Zealand Institute of Architects award
- Richard Jessie Ferris (1936-2022), American business executive, CEO of United Airlines Limited and was later the co-owner of the Pebble Beach Golf Links in California
- Patricia Jessie Giles AM (1928-2017), née White, Australian women's activist and politician, Senator for Western Australia (1981-1993)
- Garland Jessie Shifflett (b. 1935), American Major League Baseball pitcher who played from 1957 to 1964 for the Washington Senators and the Minnesota Twins
- Florence Jessie MacWilliams (1917-1990), English mathematician who contributed to the field of coding theory
- Kathleen Jessie Raine (1908-2003), British poet, critic and independent scholar
- Jessie Alice "Jessica" Tandy (1909-1994), Academy Award, Golden Globe winning English stage and film actress, she appeared in over 100 stage productions and had more than 60 roles in film and television
- Jessie T. Pettway (1929-2023), American artist associated with the Gee's Bend group of quilters
Citations +
- Bardsley, C.W, A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames: With Special American Instances. Wiltshire: Heraldry Today, 1901. Print. (ISBN 0-900455-44-6)
- Guppy, Henry Brougham, Homes of Family Names in Great Britain. 1890. Print.
- "What are the 5,000 Most Common Last Names in the U.S.?". NameCensus.com, https://namecensus.com/last-names/
- Filby, P. William, Meyer, Mary K., Passenger and immigration lists index : a guide to published arrival records of about 500,000 passengers who came to the United States and Canada in the seventeenth, eighteenth, and nineteenth centuries. 1982-1985 Cumulated Supplements in Four Volumes Detroit, Mich. : Gale Research Co., 1985, Print (ISBN 0-8103-1795-8)
- The Political Graveyard: Alphabetical Name Index. (Retrieved 2015, December 9) . Retrieved from http://politicalgraveyard.com/alpha/index.html