Jaxen

Jaxen is a modern American respelling of the English surname Jackson, meaning, quite obviously, “son of Jack”. Jack is a diminutive of John stemming from the medieval nickname Jankin (later Jackin). Jack became such a popular form of John that it eventually morphed into an independently given name in its own right. In fact, Jack is the #1 most popular baby boy’s name in Ireland, Northern Ireland and Scotland. It’s the #2 name in England right behind Oliver. In the U.S. however, the surname Jackson is now preferred over the colloquial pet name Jack. Parents in the United Kingdom and Ireland don’t typically use surnames as forenames; rather, this is a trend you’ll find mainly in the United States, Canada and Australia (Jackson is a popular name in all of these countries). What’s furthermore characteristic of American parents (and, to a lesser extent, Australians and Canadians) is an idiosyncratic compulsion to change the spellings of popular names. Jackson has now been distorted into Jaxson, Jaxon and Jaxen.