Last name JONES: origin and meaning

Publish date: 2024-03-06

Jones : 1: English and Welsh: from the Middle English personal name Jon(e) (see John) with genitival or post-medieval excrescent -s. The surname is especially common in Wales and southern central England. It began to be adopted as a non-hereditary surname in some parts of Wales from the 16th century onward but did not become a widespread hereditary surname there until the 18th and 19th centuries. In North America this surname has absorbed various cognate and like-sounding surnames from other languages. It is (including in the sense 2 below) the fifth most frequent surname in the US. It is also very common among African Americans and Native Americans.2: English: habitational or occupational name for someone who lived or worked ‘at John's (house)’.

Source : DAFN2 : Dictionary of American Family Names 2nd edition, ©2022 by Patrick Hanks and Oxford University Press

ncG1vNJzZmidnmO0prrEmqWerF6kv6h70q6pp5mdmsBwlq6HfIw%3D