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The surnameJackson

A patronymic surname, the 19th most common in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈd͡ʒæksən/ 2 syllables Soundex J250 Also a first name

Jackson: #19 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez#1,000Archer#10,001Dubon Jackson #19, 708,099 people Jackson: #19 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#1,000Archer Jackson #19, 708,099 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Jackson is more common than 99.9% of them.

Origin

From Jack + -son.

Jackson is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 708,099 people named Jackson in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 436 Americans. That is up 6.3% since 2000, when the Census counted 666,125.

#19
rank among US surnames
708,099
people in 2010
240
per 100,000 Americans
+6.3%
change since 2000 (was #18)
RankSurnamePeople1 in
#10Martinez1,060,159291
#11Hernandez1,043,281296
#12López874,523353
#13Gonzalez841,025367
#14Wilson801,882385
#15Anderson784,404394
#16Thomas756,142408

Who is named Jackson

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

53% of people named Jackson identified as Black (not Hispanic), 40% as white (not Hispanic) and 3.1% as two or more races.

  • Black (not Hispanic) 53%
  • White (not Hispanic) 40%
  • Two or more races 3.1%
  • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.5%
  • American Indian and Alaska Native 1.1%
  • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.4%

Compare: most common surnames among Black Americans.

Famous Jacksons

189 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

  • Michael Jackson
    American singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer (1958–2009)
  • Janet Jackson
    American singer, songwriter, dancer and actress (born 1966)
  • Samuel L. Jackson
    American actor (born 1948)
  • Glenda Jackson
    British actress and politician (1936–2023)
  • Jesse Jackson
    American Baptist minister, activist, civil rights leader, politician, and founder of the R, 1941–2026
  • Mahalia Jackson
    American gospel singer (1911–1972)
  • Mary Jackson
    American mathematician and aerospace engineer, 1921–2005
  • Phil Jackson
    American basketball player, coach and executive, born 1945
  • Shirley Jackson
    American writer (1916-1965)
  • La Toya Jackson
    American singer, born 1956
  • Ketanji Brown Jackson
    American lawyer and jurist (born 1970)
  • Jermaine Jackson
    American musician (born 1954)

Notable Jacksons come mostly from the United States (165), the United Kingdom (14) and Australia (6).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

  • Jaxon
  • Jaxson
  • Jaxxon

Surnames that sound like Jackson

Jackson has the Soundex code J250, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code J250.

Questions

Where does the surname Jackson come from?
From Jack + -son.
How common is the surname Jackson?
708,099 people in the United States had the surname Jackson in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 436 Americans. It ranked 19th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Jackson?
In the 2010 Census, 53% of people named Jackson identified as Black (not Hispanic), and 40% as white (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Jackson?
Michael Jackson, American singer, songwriter, record producer, and dancer (1958–2009), followed by Janet Jackson.