A name has many meanings. For most people the meaning comes from the associations. In particular, famous James Morisons, of which there are several.

Jim Morrison, shaman and lead singer for the Doors, is likely the best known James Morrison to people these days. When I was in high school in the early 70s, my cousin would tell his friends that Jim Morrison was his cousin, and if they didn’t believe him they could ask his mom. She wondered why they wanted to know about me.

Rev. James Morison was a religious leader in Scotland during the 1800s who founded a group known as the Morisonians, also known as the Evangelical Union. The Church had an anti-Calvinistic doctrine and believed in the salvation of all people, not just believers..

James Morison was a “hygeist” in England who sold Vegetable Universal Pills, which he claimed would cure all ills. From what I read, they didn’t cure much of anything. He died in 1840.

Dr. James Beattie Morison was my father. Maybe not so famous, but he had a profound influence on me. He was an early researcher in to why people smoked and therefore, how to discourage them from smoking.

Dr. James Beattie Morison was my grandfather’s twin brother. He was a dentist and the first orthodontist in Canada. There is a plaque dedicated to him at Concordia University in Montreal.

Dr. James H. Morison is an Oceanographer with the Polar Science Center at the University of Washington. He studies environmental change in the Arctic.

James Morrison is an Australian jazz musician. He led the Morrison Brothers Big Bad Band with his brother John.

James Morrison is a singer from Britain. His real name is James Morrison Catchpole. His debut single, “You Give Me Something” was an international hit in 2006.

James L. Morrison is a Professor Emeritus of Education at University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill. He is a sociologist who has focused education planning.

The common themes that I see are religion, medicine and music. I’m an engineer, but then I am not famous. I’m also a film maker, but again I’m not famous.

The Meaning of James

When I first looked up the name, the meaning given was “same as Jacob.” When I looked up Jacob it said it meant “the supplanter”. I said “oh great – what is a supplanter?” When I looked it up it said that a supplanter was someone who took the place of another, a replacement in other words.

Since then, I have gotten the feeling that the connotation was that a supplanter is not always a friendly replacement.

In Christian lore, James was the brother of Jesus. After the passing of Jesus he took over as the leader of Jesus’ followers. Some people I talked to reject that, saying that Jesus was an only child. I take no position on the truth of the story. He was, however, a supplanter according to the story.

There are many variations of the name: Jim, Jimmy and Jamie. In Spanish the name is Diego. In France it is Jacques. In Ireland it is Seamus or Shamus, and in Scotland it is Hamish. My family often calls me Hamish.

The Meaning of Morison

The meaning of the name Morison is a little harder to determine.

I found many different spellings: Morison, Morrison, Morisson, Merrison, Morrisette, Morrisyn, Morrisonne, Marrison, Morrisson, Murison, Murrison and Morriston among them. The name comes from Scotland and is found in several places there.

One story I heard was that there were three different names that were similar sounding and eventually came to be considered the same name. That would explain the confusion.

The first story I heard was that Morison mean the son of Morris which derived from the word Moor, meaning a black man. I accepted that for a long time, but came across another story that make more sense to me. A variation of this was that the name meant son of Maurice.

There was one rather vague story having the name derive from the words Mor and Tun. A Mor was a sort of defensive structure and Tun was a place where people lived (town). I did not find this story convincing, and can’t even find it anymore.  

A more elaborate story involves the original Gaelic name MacGhille Mhuire, which means the son of a servant of St. Mary, the mother of Jesus. This was then anglicized to Morison. This sounds much more plausible to me, and it is my current favorite.

The period when the name was anglicized produced some more variants of the name. These included: Brieve, Gilmore, Gilmour, Judge, Leland, McGilmore, McGlamery, McIlmore, McLemore, McMorries and McMorris.

So the name Morison developed from Mary’s Son. As noted above, this ties in with the religious association with the name. It also suggests the one “r” Morison is the correct spelling. We one “r” Morison are known as the half Rs Morisons.

Putting it All Together

So what does James Morison mean? To translate it means: someone who takes the place of Jesus. Reflecting on this, it could be seen as an egotistical name to choose.

I shall use it with humility.