Jones


Select Jones Surname Genealogy

The surname Jones is a patronymic name from Jon or John.  John had become the most popular first name in England by the beginning of the 14th century. 

Select Jones Resources on The Internet

Wales.  The name has been particularly common in Wales - although the name Jones originated in England and the letter "J" does not even exist in the Welsh language (John is Ieuan instead).  John became popular through the John in the Welsh Authorized version of the Bible.  It was not really until the 18th century that Jones as a surname really became widespread.  Some old Welsh families with long lineages who adopted the Jones name were:
  • the Jones of Llanerchrugog in Wrexham in north Wales         
  • the Jones of Albemarlis in Carmarthen
  • the Jones of Dol-yn-Edeirnon in Glamorgan.
Colonel Philip Jones prospered as a Parliamentarian under Cromwell and acquired the Fonmon castle estate in Glamorgan in 1658.  It stayed with his family until the late 19th century.  Edward Jones started a legal practice in Llandovery, Carmarthenshire in the 1770's which continued with his descendants until the 1960's.

The Welsh Joneses were outnumbering the English Joneses by approximately two to one by the beginning of the 19th century.  Jones today is the most common surname in Wales - roughly one in ten people in Wales are called Jones.  It is to be found in both south and north Wales.

England.  There were Welsh Jones in London during Elizabethan times, notably the bookseller Richard Jones and the architect Inigo Jones.  It was John Jones, a Welsh Parliamentarian under Cromwell, who signed the death warrant for Charles I in London in 1649.

A Jones family in Shrewsbury prospered from the Welsh cloth trade, first through William Jones in the early 1600's and then through his son Thomas who was Shrewsbury's first mayor in 1638.  A descendant was Sir Thomas Jones, Chief Justice in the 1680's. 

Select Jones Names

Inigo Jones, born in London of Welsh parentage in 1573, is considered the first significant British architect of the modern era. 
Edward Jones was an 18th century Welsh harpist and bard.
Davy Jones was a nickname for the devil of the sea; from which comes the expression "Davy Jones locker."
John Paul Jones, born in Scotland, was an American naval hero of the Revolutionary War.
Edward Jones, a statistician, was in 1882 the co-founder of the Dow-Jones index.
Bobby Jones was the great American amateur golfer of the 1920's.
Quincy Jones is the American jazz music impresario.
Catherine Zeta Jones is the Welsh-born actress married to Michael Douglas.

Select Jones Today

  • 578,000 in the UK (most numerous in Lancashire)
  • 409,000 in America (most numerous in Texas)
  • 171,000 elsewhere (most numerous in Australia)
Jones is the #2 ranked surname in the UK and the #5 ranked in America.


Select Surname List


For other surnames check the companion selectsurname.com site where there are to be found the history and genealogy for more than 500 surnames.

Return to Main Page