Last name: Jones

This famous surname, widespread throughout the British Isles, and the most popular surname in Wales, one in ten Welsh people being so-called, is nethertheless of English medieval origins. It derives either from the male given name John, or its female equivalent Joan, both Norman French introductions after the 1066 Invasion. Both names are written as Jon(e) in medieval documents, and a clear distinction between them on the grounds of gender was not made until the 15th Century. However, because western society has almost invariably had a male as family head throughout history, bearers of the surname Jones are more likely to derive it from a patronymic form of John, than a matronymic form of Joan. The personal name John, ultimately from the Hebrew "Yochanan" meaning "Jehovah has favoured (me with a son)", has always enjoyed enormous popularity in Europe, and particularly so after the famous Crusades of the 12th century. The name, which is found in some four hundred spellings, is in honour of St. John the Baptist, the precursor of Christ. The surname as "Jones", first appears on record in England in the latter part of the 13th Century, and also features as one of the most numerous settler names in Ireland, having been introduced in the wake of the Anglo- Norman Invasion of 1170. It is now found in every Irish county, especially in the larger towns, and has also been Gaelicized as "MacSeoin". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of Matilda Jones, which was dated 1273, in the "Hundred Rolls of Huntingdonshire", during the reign of King Edward 1st, known as "The Hammer of the Scots", reigned 1272 - 1307.

Visitor Comments

Gabriel Van Jones
0 comments? I guess no ones is keeping up with the Joneses...It's the Van Joneses you got to watch out for now...

Graham Jones
Makes sense; there is no letter J in the Welsh alphabet.

Veronica Jones
and i just found out my great grandfather was born in Wales so much for that

Chris
get your @jones.co.uk at http://www.emaildo.com

cory jones
hey the one thing you cant keep up with for real is my family

Aeron Ap Jones
my mum and dad are both joneses, but i am welsh so there you go.

Rhys
my bampys surname is jones, no supprise when considering i come from Wales

Graham Jones
Half the black people in USA are called Jones so there is not always a Welsh connection.

Izzie Jones
Actually, some black people who were brought to america during the slave trade had there names changed to western society names. thats probly why. Aha we jones hold the world record for most people with the same surname in the same room. :D

Graham Jones
Exactly, just reiterates my statement that there's not always a Welsh connection.

Carl Jones
Seeking Carl Jones of Northworcesthershire College HND in Business Studies 1986-1987. Please contact Krish from Malaysia

Melissa Jones
Last names don't always follow country of origin- many slaves took the last name of their last owner or that of a previous owner, since it had been their parents' last name. After the end of slavery, when former slaves were given free reign to choose their own last name, country of origin could be completely negated. Also, many last names were "Americanized" (ironic, being that they were really Anglo-Saxonized) and adjustments were made to many family names due to immigration either on purpose or by misspelling. Finally, because tradition has held that women take the last name of their husband, any possible combination of countries of origin could result in the last name Jones. It just so happens that the surname originated in Wales and has remained popular there- the site isn't claiming that everyone with the last name Jones has Welsh ancestry.

gina parks
Daniel jones from chattanooga, tenn Civil war time sherman spared his house because he was a mason

David Jones
As usual, there is no explanation in this article of why this name is so common in Wales. From the late 16th century, the Acts of Union and succeeding legislation such as registration of baptisms, marriages and burials as well as other legal records encouraged the adoption of the anglicized surnames form rather than the patronymic Welsh system already centuries old. John (Ieuan, Iwan, Ioan, Sion, Efan, Ifan) was as popular in early modern Wales as in any other european country in any language or culture. As one of the common given names most commonly converted from the patronymic to the new anglicised form, it is therefore no surprise that there are so many Jones and Evans, both deriving from Welsh forms of John. As a result, very gradually and quite patchily, old Welsh names such as Dafydd ab Ievan, might be transcribed as David Jones, or David Evans. The 'no J in the Welsh alphabet' is an old chestnut. Until the standardisation of spelling in the17-18th centuries J and I were interchangeable, just like V and U were: Jevan, Jeuan.

Glenda Jones
My mother a Clark, my father a Jones. My family geneology shows I'm part Welsh, Italian and French. :) I can live with that.

Jamila Jones
Glenda, my mother is a Jones (her father) but our family name is Clark (her mother). Originated in Greenville, NC. Wow...we could be related possibly. lol

E Jones
That information was most interesting

Aneles Jones
Wow....This is Very Instresting and very helpful

Catherine Coker-Davies
My mother was born to parents named Jones. I was told that they came from Wales from the freedom of slave trade.

Bryan Thomas Jones
It's Welsh and derives from "Sion". Just because there is no Welsh "J" is, as said before an old chestnut. English scribes were transcribing words they could not even say in the best way they could. There are some appalling errors on this website, I'm afraid.

Jeuan David Jones
Bryan, it does not only derive from Sion as such. The available evidence points to Ieuan/Evan being the source names for Jones in Wales.

dave
the reason jones is so wide spread in wales and an english name is because when the english invaded wales it was ordered that all welsh subjects were to have english names instead of the native welsh language in their surnames. it was something to do with tax collecting.

Jeuan David Jones
@Dave. Please get your facts right before posting nonsense. That's a gross simplification and just a misrepresentation of history. Please read my previous post. Also, there was no such compulsion to use English names when Edward I conquered the principality which is what I assume you mean by 'when the english invaded wales'. I think you might be confusing the consequences of the Acts of Union (from 1536), amongst which was the delegalising of the Welsh language, the universal introduction of English law which coupled with the ways that the recording of baptisms, marriages and burials were to be recorded led to the gradual changes affecting names and specifically surnames.

Phyllis Archer
I am trying to find the parents of a Green Jones b 20 June 1829 in Wytle, Va, USA, married Mary Jane Shanks b 27 May 1834 Hawkins County, TN, USA. I am having problems going backwards. Any help. archerpa@comcast.net

Lola Jane Shaw
I don't know but my grandmothers maiden name was jones and I'm sure her father was from Scotland. Her mother was a Findley and she was Irish. My other grandmother was English and she was a Prather. Yes life works in unusual ways. My family is also part of the Dillard family who fought in the revolutionary war. Strange world but what are you going to do we have to live here personally I would love to see Saturn LOL

Alan Jones
I have traced -8- generations of my "Jones" family all here in America. I suppose my "Jones's" came here from Wales also to start a new way of life. Most were farmers....then the computer age arrived!! (->Delaware->South Carolina->Mississippi->Ohio)

Brandy Jones
I know my Great-Great grandfather was half Irish- Tobe (tobias) Jones.

Jeuan David Jones
Let's be clear. Jones is not exclusive to Wales and nobody is suggesting that. It is very common in Wales for the historical reasons previously given. It means 'son of John' - 'John's son' which is one of the most common patronymic surname formations in many countries/language groups.

Richard George Jones
@Jeuan -- Hey, cuzz: it's nice to have someone posting here who's got some keen information, but persuasion's more helpful than abrasion; although that seems to be a dominant Jones trait, or so everyone who knows me is quick to suggest. My paternal line runs back to Irons, Michigan. My great-grandfather William Perry Jones served in the 11th (I think...maybe 6th?) Union Cavalry during America's Civil War. I'm pretty sure he, like me, was an irascible old cuss, too. I don't know anything about the family’s earlier origins.

Jeuan David Jones
Hello, Point taken, tho' it's frustrating seeing the old chestnuts being brought out for roasting over and over, and not everyone reads the entire thread! I'm afraid I can't help your search, as I'm stuck at my 3x gt grandfather, Richard Jones, in Wales. I'm unaware of any my Jones early migrations, tho' I'm sure there must be one or two in the 19thC. I've recently upgraded my YDNA test to see if I can get better and more recent matches.

Richard Jones
Golly Jones' getting a little terse with each other? Kinda sounds a bit like a typical family gathering. I was told (take it for what you will) that the name was always really just an English form trying to document a patriachal family naming system into clan-like naming system. Richard ap John, is Richard Jones etc. Sion ap William, John Williams. As I look back on the family tree I see William Jones marrying Jean Williams, having kids William, John, Mary. There's only 15 names (first and last) in the whole country! :)