Jumper History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms

Origins Available:
England

Etymology of Jumper

What does the name Jumper mean?

The ancestors of the bearers of the Jumper family name are thought have lived in ancient Anglo-Saxon England. They were first found in the hamlet of Jump, which is in the parish of Wombwell in Yorkshire. The parish of Wombwell was the property of Roger de Bully and Walter d'Aincourt at the time of the Domesday Book and has long been the site of coal-mining and iron-founding. The surname Jumper belongs to the large category of Anglo-Saxon habitation names, which are derived from pre-existing names for towns, villages, parishes, or farmsteads.

Alternatively, the "first Mr. Jumper would appear to have derived his name not from his saltatory skill, but from his having been a maker of jumps, a kind of short leather coat or boddice, formerly worn by women. See Bailey and Halliwell. Jumper is also a northern provincialism for a miner's boring tool, and may have been metaphorically applied to the miner himself." 1

Early Origins of the Jumper family

The surname Jumper was first found in the West Riding of Yorkshire, where they held a family seat from ancient times.

Early History of the Jumper family

This web page shows only a small excerpt of our Jumper research. Another 126 words (9 lines of text) covering the years 1569, 1612, 1614, 1660, 1688, 1704 and 1715 are included under the topic Early Jumper History in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Jumper Spelling Variations

Until quite recently, the English language has lacked a definite system of spelling rules. Consequently, Anglo-Saxon surnames are characterized by a multitude of spelling variations. Changes in Anglo-Saxon names were influenced by the evolution of the English language, as it incorporated elements of French, Latin, and other languages. Although Medieval scribes and church officials recorded names as they sounded, so it is common to find one person referred to by several different spellings of his surname, even the most literate people varied the spelling of their own names. Variations of the name Jumper include Jump, Jumpe and others.

Early Notables of the Jumper family

More information is included under the topic Early Jumper Notables in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.

Jumper Ranking

In the United States, the name Jumper is the 9,016^th most popular surname with an estimated 2,487 people with that name. 2

Jumper migration to the United States +

Searching for a better life, many English families migrated to British colonies. Unfortunately, the majority of them traveled under extremely harsh conditions: overcrowding on the ships caused the majority of the immigrants to arrive diseased, famished, and destitute from the long journey across the ocean. For those families that arrived safely, modest prosperity was attainable, and many went on to make invaluable contributions to the development of the cultures of the new colonies. Research into the origins of individual families in North America revealed records of the immigration of a number of people bearing the name Jumper or a variant listed above:

Jumper Settlers in United States in the 17th Century

Tho Jumper, who arrived in Virginia in 1657 3

Jumper Settlers in United States in the 20th Century

Piotr Jumper, aged 21, who arrived in America from Kouno, Russia, in 1906
Caroline E. Jumper, aged 69, who arrived in America from La Gloria, Cuba, in 1911
Charles A Jumper, aged 42, who arrived in America, in 1913
Eliza Jumper, aged 29, who arrived in Lebanon, Pa., in 1923
Francis Jumper, aged 3, who arrived in Lebanon, Pa., in 1923
... (More are available in all our PDF Extended History products and printed products wherever possible.)

Contemporary Notables of the name Jumper (post 1700) +

John Michael Jumper (b. 1985), American senior research scientist at DeepMind Technologies, awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry for his predictions in protein folding
Hunter Jumper (b. 1989), American soccer player for United States U18 (2007)
Betty Mae Tiger Jumper (1923-2011), American first female chief of the Seminole Tribe of Florida
John Jumper (1820-1896), American Principal Chief of the Seminole Nation (1849-1865)
Major Jesse T. Jumper, United States Air Force officer who participated in establishing the South Pole Station in the 1956-1957 season, eponym of Mount Jumper, Antarctica
John P. Jumper (b. 1945), retired United States Air Force general, 17th Chief of Staff of the United States Air Force (2001-2005)

Citations +

Lower, Mark Anthony, Patronymica Britannica, A Dictionary of Family Names of the United Kingdom. London: John Russel Smith, 1860. 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)