Jumper
Likely an occupational surname, probably for someone who made or sold a short women's jacket called a “jump.”
The #9,661 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 91,889 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname is usually explained from Middle English and related French forms referring to a “jump,” a short jacket or bodice worn by women. In that reading, Jumper would have been an occupational name for a maker or seller of such garments. Some 19th-century writers also suggested a second possibility: a northern dialect word for a miner’s boring tool, which could have led to a nickname for a miner.
History
The name is treated by 19th-century surname writers as an English occupational or trade-based surname, rather than a name connected with leaping. They note that it may have arisen independently in different places, and that some bearers could have acquired it from a local trade term or a mining implement. The modern surname is comparatively uncommon in the United States.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname dictionaries explicitly warn that the first bearers of Jumper were probably not named for athletic ability, but for a piece of clothing or a tool.
From the historical record
“JULIUS. The personal name. JUMPER. Tlie first ]\Ir. Jtimper would appear to have derived his name not from his saltatory skill, but from his having been a maker of jumj^s, a kind of short leather coat or boddice, formerly worn by women. See Bailey aud llalliwell. Jumper is also a northern proviucialism for a…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom