Jacques

Recorded as Jaques, Jacques and other forms as shown below, this is a surname of Olde French origins. Introduced into the British Isles at various times after the Invasion of 1066, it has its origins in the pre 7th century personal name Jacques, the equivalent of the English and Scottish forms of Jack, Jake, and the patronymics Jakes, Jacks and Jackes. The ultimate derivation of the name is from the Hebrew given name "Yaakov", the European Jacob, popularly interpreted to mean "he who supplanted." Thi is a reference to the Biblical tale of Jacob and Esau. There were two Latin forms Jacobus and Jacomus, giving the modern forms Jacob and James. Jacques was the usual French form of Jacobus and the earliest known recording in England is probably that of Jakes Amadur, in the Hundred Rolls of the city of London in 1275. Other forms of the modern surname are Jacquet, Jaques (French) and Jaquest and Jaquiss (English). Early examples of the surname recording taken from surviving church registers include John Jacques, who was christened on July 1st 1675 at St. Martins-in-the-Field, Westminster and a century earlier that of Roberte Jaques, believed to have been the son of a Huguenot refugee, who was christened on May 1st 1559, at the church of St. Botolph without Aldgate, city of London. This was during the reign of Queen Elizabeth 1st, known as "Good Queen Bess", 1558 - 1603. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.