Jefferson

English
"son of Jeffrey"

Jefferson Origin and Meaning

The name Jefferson is a boy's name of English origin meaning "son of Jeffrey".

The name of the third U.S. President sounds, like Harrison and Jackson, more modern and stylish now than its root name. Used as a first name long before our surname-crazed era, Jefferson was most famously used as a first name by the President of the Confederacy, Jefferson Davis, which may justifiably make you not want to use it. Jefferson is the middle name of another Prez, William Clinton.

Fictional Jeffersons include Jefferson Bricks in Dickens's Martin Chuzzlewit and Jefferson Almond in Henry James' Washington Square, the title character in the Frank Capra classic film "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington," plus others--for better and for worse-- in "Married With Children," "The Dukes of Hazzard" and "Kit Kittridge: An American Girl."

Admittedly, nickname Jeff does sound a bit dated.

# 762 in the US

Jefferson Rank in US Top 1000

# 2469 on Nameberry

Jefferson Rank in Nameberry Top 1000

Jefferson Popularity

Famous People Named Jefferson

  • Jefferson Finis Davis
    President of the Confederate States of America
  • Jefferson Beauregard "Jeff" Sessions III
    U.S. Senator; 84th Attorney General
  • Jefferson Bryan Davis
    American actor/comedian
  • Jefferson Charles Rosemund Jr. aka Chuck Nutt
    American rapper
  • (Lewis) Jefferson Mays
    American actor
  • Jefferson Texas "Tex" Hammond (b. 2007)
    son of actress Grey DeLisle and musician Murry Hammond
  • William Jefferson Clinton
    42nd President of the U.S.
  • Li Jefferson Clayton
    daughter of American journalist Laura Ling
  • Thomas Jefferson
    3rd President of the United States

Jefferson in Pop Culture

  • Jefferson Airplane
    American rock band
  • Jefferson D'Arcy
    Marcy's husband on TV's "Married...with Children"
  • Jefferson/The Mad Hatter
    character on TV's "Once Upon a Time"
  • Jefferson Howard
    character from the “Spoon River Anthology”
  • Jefferson "Jake" Briggs
    main character in film "She's Having a Baby"
  • Jefferson "Jax" Jackson aka Firestorm
    character on TV's "The Flash" and "Legends of Tomorrow"
  • Jefferson Smith
    character in the webcomic "Riverside Extras" by Miri Chamberlain
  • Jefferson Davis Slater
    character in Lois Lenski's "Strawberry Girl"