The surname Jones literally means ‘dependant of John’, and Jone was a common form of the Christian name in England. In Wales, John had the characteristic form Evan (see Evans), but the Welsh Authorised Bible popularised a more latinate form Ioan, which gave rise to the patronymic Jones in Wales, where it is exceptionally common.

The first name John is Hebrew in origin and means ‘God is gracious’ (for further details see Johnson).

Jones has many related variants, which range from John to Joan, Joynes to Fitzjones (son of Jones). Like Jones, most of these variants have particularly strong Welsh connections.

References to the surname Jones appear in many of the early records, but more often than not the earliest references are to its related names. Thus one Alanus filius Jene appears in the 1275 annals of Lincolnshire, and there are several Johannes in the same records. However, in 1279 the more recognisable name of Walterus filius Jone appears in the annals for Huntingdonshire, and from then on the name Jones becomes a regular feature in our records, proliferating all over the country-though still retaining its highest concentrations in South Wales.

The phrase ‘Keeping up with the Joneses’, which originated in a 1913 American strip cartoon, gathered strength during the decades after World War II, with the new prosperity and subsequent proliferation of snobbery.

The most remunerative British television contract was signed in 1968 by the singer Tom Jones, with ABC-TV of the US and ITV of London, for a reported £9 million. It stipulated that Jones was to appear in 17 one-hour shows each year between January 1969 and January 1975-just under £90,000 an hour.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average Index measures the rise and fall of stocks and shares on the New York and American stock exchanges. It was instituted in 1896 by Charles Henry Dow and Edward D. Jones, former financial journalists who together, in 1882, founded the Wall Street firm of Dow Jones and Co. The British equivalent is the Financial Times Share Index.

‘On your Jack Jones’ is Cockney rhyming slang for ‘on your own’.

Casey Jones (1864—1900) is the legendary hero commemorated in the famous ballad of the same name for his heroism as the engineer on the ‘Cannonball Express’.

There are no Jones-related towns or major geographic features in the United Kingdom. The only towns bearing this name are in the United States where there are 19, including 9 Jonesboros and 6 Jonesvilles. A portion of the Atlantic Ocean’s floor is known as Jones Bank, and Canada has a Jones Sound.

With about 688,000 namesakes Jones is the 2nd most popular surname in England and Wales. There are 8,000 Jones’s in Scotland where it is 95th in popularity. Jones is notably popular in and around Cardiff where an estimated one in about 25 families bears the name. In descending numerical order Liverpool, Birmingham and Coventry are other Jones strongholds. Around the world Jones’s are most common in Sydney (one in 224 families), Canberra (one in 256) and Melbourne (one in 289). The United States has more Jones’s than the entire population of South Yorkshire-an estimated total of just over 1,400,000 makes this their 5th most popular surname.