Jamieson means son of Jamie or James, ultimately from Hebrew Ya'aqov, traditionally linked to supplanter.
Jamieson is a Scottish patronymic surname meaning "son of Jamie," where Jamie is a diminutive of James — itself derived through the Latin Jacomus from the Hebrew Ya'akov (Jacob), meaning "supplanter" or, by a more generous reading, "one who follows at the heel." The name Jacob and its many derivatives carry deep biblical weight: Jacob was one of the patriarchs of Israel, whose struggle with the angel gave the Jewish people their name, and whose twelve sons became the twelve tribes. That ancient weight traveled through Latin, through Spanish (Diego), through English (James), and eventually into the Scottish Jamie and its surname derivatives.
Jamieson as a surname is particularly concentrated in Scotland, especially in Shetland and the mainland Lowlands, and it spread through the Scottish diaspora to Canada, Australia, South Africa, and the United States. Among its notable bearers was Robert Jamieson, the nineteenth-century Scottish antiquary and philologist whose work on Scottish ballads helped preserve a literary heritage, and Cathy Jamieson, a prominent Scottish politician. In medicine, the name is associated with Jock Jamieson, and in music, Jamieson Coote, the Australian trumpeter of international renown.
As a given name, Jamieson belongs to the fashionable contemporary trend of using Scottish or Irish surnames as first names for boys — a tradition that spans from traditional (Douglas, Cameron) to modern (Macallister, Calloway). It carries a robust, highland quality, longer and more formal than plain Jamie yet warmer than James. For parents with Scottish heritage or simply an affinity for names that feel rooted in a landscape, Jamieson offers considerable character.