Jesse Family History
Jesse Name Meaning
North German: from a short form of the personal name Jesper a Low German form of Kaspar an equivalent of Casper . North German: variant of Jess . South German: from a shortened form of the personal name Johannes (see John ). English: from a pet form of the Middle English personal name Jessup a variant of Joseph . Pronunciation of the English surname as two syllables is the result of confusion of the written form of this name with the Biblical personal name Jesse (meaning ‘gift’ in Hebrew) the name of the father of King David (I Samuel 16). French: variant of Gesse from gesse ‘vetchling’ a metonymic occupational name for a grower of vetchling (a kind of edible plant formerly grown for its medicinal properties) or a topographic name for someone living in a place where such plants grew in abundance. This surname is rare in France.
Source: Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, 2022