Jones (surname)

This article is about the surname. For a list of people with the surname, see List of people with surname Jones. For other uses, see Jones (disambiguation).
"Jones family" redirects here. For the 1936–1940 movie series, see Jones Family.
Jones
Pronunciation/ˈdʒoʊnz/
Language(s)Welsh, English
Origin
Meaning"son of John"
Other names
Variant form(s)MacSeoin, Joans, Johnson, Johns, Sion

Jones is a surname of Welsh and English origin meaning "son of John". The surname is common in Wales. It evolved from variations of traditionally Welsh names: Ieuan, Iowan, Ioan, Iwan, or even Siôn (note how the letter 'J' was originally being pronounced as 'i', akin to how J is pronounced in the Latin alphabet).[1][2][3] The sound generated from ‘Si-’ in Siôn is a Welsh approximation of the English ‘J’ sound (refer to Irish Seán), equivalent to the English ‘Sh’ such as in “shed.”

It exists as an anglicisation of these names during periods in which many Welsh were forced to change their names, ridding their patronymic names (“Ap Rhys” to “Prys” and then “Price” in English, or attaching an ‘-s’ to the end of a given name to signify an old patronym: “Owain” to “Owen” to finally “Owens”), or English speakers transliterating these names to a more conventional spelling through mishearing. They may also come from the English patronymic “Johns,” or “Johnson” (“son of John”).

  1. ^ "Distribution of the surname Johnes in the UK". UK Surname Map.
  2. ^ Percy Hide Reaney; Richard Middlewood Wilson (1991). A Dictionary of English Surnames. Taylor & Francis Group. pp. 1784–. ISBN 978-0-415-05737-0. Retrieved 19 December 2012.
  3. ^ "Surname Database: Jones Last Name Origin". Retrieved 19 December 2012.