Explore the Family Name Juba

The meaning of Juba

1. Americanized form of Polish Dziuba, Dzióba, or Dzioba. 2. English (Leicestershire): variant of Jobber, which has several origins. Firstly, it is perhaps from a shortened form of the Middle English (Old French) personal name Jo(i)bert, of Norman origin (compare Job and Jobin). The name may also be from Middle English jobber, of uncertain meaning; it might be a derivative of job ‘piece of work’ (hence ‘pieceworker’), though the word is not recorded before the mid-16th century. Other examples of the name might be derivatives of Middle English jobben ‘to peck or poke (something)’ (with a mattock perhaps) or of Middle English jubbe, jobbe ‘large vessel for holding liquids’, hence ‘maker and seller of jubbs’. Finally, perhaps a nickname from a shortened form of Middle English jobard ‘fool’. This surname is now rare in Britain. 3. Albanian: habitational name from Jubë (definite form Juba), a village in the Durrës County in western Albania. 4. African (mainly Nigeria and Malawi): unexplained. 5. Japanese (Jūba): written 十場 ‘ten places’. It is not common in Japan. Some characteristic forenames: Japanese Hisashi, Taka.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.