Family name origins & meanings
- English (Suffolk) : variant spelling of English Jernegan, which is of uncertain derivation. Reaney believes it to be of Breton origin, probably identical with the Old Breton personal name Iarnuuocon ‘iron famous’, taken to East Anglia by Bretons at the time of the Norman Conquest.
- Thomas Jernigan was granted land at Somerton, VA, in 1668. Many of his descendants were sea captains. His son, also called Thomas, settled on Martha’s Vineyard, MA, in 1712.