Frequency: (204)
(number of times this surname appears in a sample database of 88.7 million names, representing one third of the 1997 US population)
1. French: metonymic occupational name for a jeweller, from gemme ‘gem’, ‘precious stone’.
2. German: perhaps a metonymic name derived from a stem Gam-, as in the 16th century female personal name Gemeke.
GIVEN NAMES: French 14%. Adelard, Alexina, Benoit, Gaston, Jean Jacques, Laurent, Pierre.
See the Key to the Dictionary or consult the General Introduction for further explanation.
