My name is Jarrett and my ancestory is English. The first Jarretts in my family were in Virginia, USA, in the 1600s. It was quite common then to give a son his mother's familly name as a first name. Jarrett is the Anglicized form of the German Gerhardt and the Norman Gerard. It means strong or hardy spear. The biblical name Jared, which is very popular right now, is unrelated.