Jack Family History

English and Scottish: from the Middle English and Older Scots personal name Jak, Jakke, Jagge, Jake, Jeke, Jegge, a Picard-Flemish denasalized form of Old Picard and Middle Dutch Janke, a pet form of Jan (see John). It was introduced by Flemings and Picards into Norman and Anglo-Norman usage, whence it became a common English and Scottish pet form of John.

Although the surname is mainly Scottish in distribution, it also occurs in England, though the more common form there is Jackson. English: occasionally perhaps from a Middle English borrowing of the Old French personal name Jacque(s) (James).

However, it is uncertain whether English Jack was ever used as an alternative to James. Native American (e.g. Navajo): adoption of the English personal name Jack (see 1 above) as a surname.

German (also Jäck): from a short form of the personal name Jacob. Americanized form of French Jacques, Americanized form of one or more similar (like-sounding) Jewish surnames.