119+ Popular Jamaican Last Names Or Surnames, With Meanings

Jamaican surnames tell the whole story of the island in one list.

You will find English names that came with colonization. Scottish and Irish names that arrived with indentured workers and plantation owners. African names that survived the Middle Passage and took root in new soil. Spanish names left over from the era before the British arrived. And a handful of names that are so distinctly Jamaican that you will not find them anywhere else on earth.

What I find remarkable is how much history sits inside something as simple as a last name. Every surname on this island is a piece of what happened here over five hundred years. Some of that history is painful. All of it is real. And the names that came out of it are genuinely some of the most interesting surnames you will ever come across.

Here are 121 popular Jamaican last names and surnames with meanings.

Most Common Jamaican Surnames With Meanings

These are the names you hear most often across Jamaica and in Jamaican communities around the world. London, Toronto, New York. Wherever Jamaicans have settled, these names traveled with them.

A lot of them are English in origin but they sound and feel completely Jamaican now. That is what five hundred years of living somewhere does to a name.

1. Brown – originally a color name given to someone with brown hair or complexion. Now one of the most common surnames across the entire English-speaking Caribbean.
2. Williams – son of William. William means resolute protector in Old Germanic.
3. Smith – blacksmith. The most common occupational surname in the English language traveled everywhere the British went.
4. Campbell – crooked mouth in Scottish Gaelic. A Scottish clan name that crossed to Jamaica with Scottish settlers and stayed.
5. Thompson – son of Thomas. Thomas means twin.
6. Clarke – clerk or scholar. Someone who could read and write at a time when most people could not.
7. Reid – red. A Scottish color surname given to someone with red hair.
8. Anderson – son of Andrew. Andrew means manly and strong.
9. Bailey – bailiff or steward. Someone who managed land or property.
10. Stewart – estate manager. The same origin as Stuart, the royal Scottish name.
11. Morrison – son of Morris. Morris comes from the Latin Mauritius, meaning dark or Moorish.
12. Grant – large or great in French. Came to Jamaica through Scottish and English settlers.
13. Watson – son of Walter. Walter means ruler of the army.
14. Henry – ruler of the home in Old Germanic.
15. Allen – handsome or rock in Celtic origin.
16. Morgan – sea circle or great and bright in Welsh. A name that crossed from Wales to Jamaica.
17. Lawrence – from Laurentium, a city in ancient Rome. Also connected to the laurel wreath of victory.
18. Simpson – son of Simon. Simon means he who hears.
19. Gordon – great hill in Scottish Gaelic. A powerful Scottish clan name.
20. Hamilton – flat-topped hill in Scottish. Another Scottish name with deep roots in Jamaica.
21. Richards – son of Richard. Richard means powerful ruler.
22. Barrett – bear strength in Old English and German.
23. McDonald – son of Donald. Donald means ruler of the world in Scottish Gaelic.
24. Black – a color surname for someone with dark hair or complexion.
25. King – simply king. A name of authority that became widely carried across Jamaica.
26. Phillips – son of Philip. Philip means lover of horses in Greek.
27. Francis – free man. A name connected to Saint Francis of Assisi.

Jamaican Surnames With African Roots And Meanings

This is the section I find most important on the whole list. After emancipation in 1838, many formerly enslaved Jamaicans chose to take African names or create surnames that honored their heritage. Others had African names that survived through generations despite everything that tried to erase them.

These names carry enormous weight. Every one of them is an act of survival and identity.

28. Accompong – a Maroon name connected to the legendary leader of the Leeward Maroons who fought the British to a standstill and won their freedom.
29. Cudjoe – born on Monday in Akan tradition from Ghana. One of the great Maroon leaders carried this name.
30. Nanny – the female form of a Maroon name. Queen Nanny is the only female national hero of Jamaica.
31. Quashie – born on Sunday in Akan. A name that crossed the Atlantic and survived.
32. Kofi – born on Friday in Akan. Traveled from West Africa and took hold across the Caribbean.
33. Asante – thank you or warrior in the Twi language of Ghana. Connected to the Ashanti people.
34. Maroon – from the Spanish cimarron meaning wild or untamed. The Maroons were the formerly enslaved people who escaped into the mountains and built free communities.
35. Tacky – from a Fante word. The name of the leader of Tacky’s Revolt in 1760, one of the largest slave rebellions in Jamaican history.
36. Bogle – Paul Bogle was a Jamaican national hero who led the Morant Bay Rebellion of 1865.
37. Garvey – from rough or rugged in Irish origin but made permanently Jamaican by Marcus Garvey, the father of Pan-Africanism.
38. Bedward – Alexander Bedward was a Jamaican religious leader and folk hero. A name of local pride.
39. Cuffy – born on Friday in Akan tradition. Carried by Jamaicans with West African heritage.
40. Accompong – the Maroon settlement in the hills of St. Elizabeth that won its treaty of independence from the British in 1739.
41. Zacca – a name with deep roots in Jamaican Maroon tradition.
42. Sharpe – Sam Sharpe led the Christmas Rebellion of 1831, the largest slave revolt in Jamaican history. Now a national hero.
43. Aiken – from the oak tree in Scottish but carried as a proud Jamaican surname.
44. Dunbar – fort at the summit in Scottish Gaelic. Deeply rooted in Jamaican history.
45. Wint – a distinctly Jamaican surname with roots in the island’s colonial history.
46. Tulloch – small hill in Scottish Gaelic. A Scottish name that became entirely Jamaican.
47. Moulton – from a muddy farm in English. Arrived with British settlers and stayed.
48. Facey – a surname found almost exclusively in Jamaica and the Jamaican diaspora.
49. Golding – son of the golden one. Made famous by Bruce Golding, former Prime Minister of Jamaica.
50. Manley – from the common land or shared field. Norman Manley and Michael Manley are two of the most important names in Jamaican political history.
51. Bustamante – a Spanish surname meaning from Bustamante. Sir Alexander Bustamante was Jamaica’s first Prime Minister and a national hero.
52. Shearer – one who shears sheep. Hugh Shearer was Prime Minister of Jamaica in the 1960s.
53. Patterson – son of Patrick. Patrick means noble. P.J. Patterson was Jamaica’s longest serving Prime Minister.
54. Seaga – Edward Seaga was Prime Minister of Jamaica. A surname of Lebanese origin that became entirely Jamaican.

Jamaican Surnames From Scottish And Irish Heritage With Meanings

You might be surprised how many Jamaican surnames are Scottish. The Scottish settled heavily in Jamaica during the colonial period, particularly in the parishes of St. Elizabeth and Westmoreland. Their names stayed long after they were gone.

Irish names came through a different route. Many Irish people arrived in Jamaica as indentured workers in the seventeenth century and their surnames became part of the island’s fabric.

55. MacPherson – son of the parson in Scottish Gaelic.
56. Fraser – strawberry in Old French, carried by a Scottish clan to Jamaica.
57. Mackenzie – son of the fair one in Scottish Gaelic.
58. Munroe – from the mouth of the River Roe in Ireland. James Monroe the US president had Irish roots but the name spread across Jamaica too.
59. Sinclair – from Saint Clair in Normandy. A noble French name that became Scottish and then Jamaican.
60. Buchanan – house of the canon in Scottish Gaelic. A major Scottish clan name.
61. Dunlop – muddy hill in Scottish Gaelic.
62. Galloway – stranger in Scottish Gaelic. From the region of Galloway in southwest Scotland.
63. Kerr – from the marshland in Scottish and northern English.
64. Laing – long or tall in Scottish.
65. Lowe – small hill in Old English. Also means flame in some Norse contexts.
66. Mair – steward or mayor in Scottish.
67. Menzies – from the place called Mesnières in Normandy. A Scottish clan that settled in Jamaica.
68. Muir – moor or open land in Scottish.
69. Niven – little saint in Scottish Gaelic.
70. Roper – rope maker in English.
71. Spalding – from the town of Spalding in Lincolnshire. A Jamaican town also bears this name.
72. Stair – from the stepping stones in Scottish Gaelic.
73. Stirling – from the city of Stirling in Scotland. Place of battle.
74. Tennant – tenant farmer. Someone who worked land they did not own.
75. Urquhart – on the wooded point in Scottish Gaelic.
76. Vaz – from the Basque country originally. Arrived in Jamaica through Portuguese Jewish settlers.
77. Vernon – alder grove in Norman French.
78. Waddell – from the valley in Scottish.
79. Walker – someone who walked on cloth to full it during wool processing.
80. Wallace – from Wales or a Welsh person. William Wallace gave this name its weight.
81. Watt – short form of Walter, meaning army ruler.

Unique And Distinctly Jamaican Surnames With Meanings

These are the ones that exist almost entirely in Jamaica and in the Jamaican diaspora. You will not find them in any other country’s surname records. They were born on the island, shaped by the island, and they belong to nowhere else.

Every time you see one of these in a different country you already know where that family is from.

82. Aitcheson – a variation of Atchison that became specifically Jamaican in its spelling and use.
83. Azan – a surname of Lebanese Sephardic Jewish origin that became entirely Jamaican through generations of island life.
84. Beckford – William Beckford was one of the wealthiest men in eighteenth century Jamaica. The name is now carried by Jamaicans across the world.
85. Bolt – made globally famous by Usain Bolt, the fastest human being ever recorded. A short, sharp, and perfectly Jamaican name.
86. Chin – one of the most common Chinese-Jamaican surnames. Chinese workers arrived in Jamaica in the nineteenth century and their descendants became deeply embedded in Jamaican society.
87. DaCosta – of Portuguese Jewish origin. One of the earliest non-Spanish European groups to settle in Jamaica.
88. Dawes – son of David in Welsh origin. Deeply rooted in Jamaican history.
89. Delgado – thin or slender in Spanish. Left over from the Spanish period before British rule.
90. Desnoes – a French Huguenot surname that became Jamaican. The D in D&G, the famous Jamaican soft drink.
91. Geddes – from Geddes in Scotland. Entirely Jamaican in feel now.
92. Glasspole – Florizel Glasspole was Governor-General of Jamaica. A name of real local history.
93. Goldfinger – not just a Bond villain. A real Jamaican surname of Jewish origin.
94. Hanna – grace in Hebrew. Also a prominent political family name in Jamaica.
95. Henriques – a Sephardic Jewish surname of Spanish and Portuguese origin. One of the oldest family names in Jamaica.
96. Isaacs – son of Isaac. Isaac means he who laughs.
97. Issa – a prominent Lebanese-Jamaican family name. Arabic in origin, meaning Jesus.
98. Levy – joined or attached in Hebrew. One of the most prominent Jewish-Jamaican surnames.
99. Lindo – handsome or beautiful in Spanish and Portuguese. An old Jamaican family name.
100. Mais – Roger Mais was one of Jamaica’s greatest novelists. A French surname that became entirely Jamaican.
101. Maragh – the surname taken by Leonard Howell, the man who founded the Rastafari movement.
102. Matalon – a prominent Jamaican business family of Sephardic Jewish origin.
103. McKay – son of fire in Scottish Gaelic. Claude McKay was one of the great poets of the Harlem Renaissance and a proud Jamaican.
104. Minott – a small one in Old French. Sugar Minott was one of Jamaica’s most beloved reggae singers.
105. Moo Young – a Chinese-Jamaican surname carried by descendants of nineteenth century Chinese workers.
106. Motta – a mound or fortified place in Old French. One of Jamaica’s oldest business family names.
107. Nethersole – Noel Nethersole was a key figure in Jamaican independence. A name of real national history.
108. Pottinger – David Pottinger was a celebrated Jamaican artist. A name connected to the island’s creative life.
109. Rattray – from the fort at the circular enclosure in Scottish Gaelic. Deeply Jamaican now.
110. Robotham – a surname found almost nowhere except Jamaica.
111. Rowe – from the row of trees or the hedge in English.
112. Sangster – Donald Sangster was Prime Minister of Jamaica. A singer or one who sings in old Scots.
113. Shirley – bright clearing in Old English. Governor-General of Jamaica in the 1980s.
114. Skuse – a surname found almost exclusively in Jamaica with roots in English dialect.
115. Spence – someone who worked in a pantry or dispensary.
116. Stephenson – son of Stephen. Stephen means crown.
117. Taffe – from the River Taff in Wales. Arrived in Jamaica through Welsh settlers.
118. Thwaites – small fields in Old Norse. A prominent Jamaican family name.
119. Wynter – winter in Old English. Hector Wynter was a founding editor of the Jamaica Gleaner.
120. Ximenes – a Spanish surname meaning son of Simon. One of the oldest Sephardic Jewish surnames in Jamaica.
121. Young – young one. Simple in origin but carried with enormous pride across Jamaica.

Wrapping Up

So there you have it. 121 popular Jamaican last names and surnames with meanings.

From the Scottish hills of Campbell and Gordon to the African pride of Accompong and Cudjoe. From the revolutionary fire of Bogle and Sharpe to the reggae warmth of Minott and McKay. From the Lebanese roots of Issa and Azan to the distinctly Jamaican power of Bolt.

Every surname on this island carries five hundred years of real life inside it. Survival, creativity, pride, and a culture that has given the whole world more than it will ever fully realize.

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