It is of Hebrew origin, and the meaning of Jemima is  dove . Biblical: eldest of the three daughters of Job (see also Keren and Kezia), renowned as the most beautiful women of their time. The name has been recorded from the early 1700s in England.
(Tom Colburn / Houston Chronicle). (R-L) actor Patrick Swayze, his mother Patsy Swayze and his wife Lisa Haapaniemi (aka Niemi) dance at Patsy Swayze's dance studio in Houston in 1978. (Tom Colburn / Houston Chronicle).
Patsy also notably taught a teenage Lisa Niemi Swayze, who met Patsy's son Patrick at her dance studio and would go on to tie the knot with the late Dirty Dancing actor in 1975.