Jones is a patronymic surname, meaning the son of John, or Johan or Jone; as at first written and pronounced, both masculine and feminine. In the 13th and 14th centuries Johan stood for both Johannes and Johanna. This being awkward, the masculine took the form of John (Jon), the feminine of Joan (Jone). But it is quite clear from evidence that for a time the sound of Jone represented both. In the Poll Tax, 1379, co. Yorks we find for instance:

• Johan Chapman et Lesot sa femma
• Johan servant de dit Johan sa femme
• Robert Geslyng et Johan sa femme
• Johan Quenyld

And also:

• Mathilda Jones, Co. Hunts., 1273. Assizes
• Walter fil Jone, Co. Hunts., Assizes
• Ralph Jones-man, Court Rolls, 30 Edw. III
• Ricardus Jone-son, 1379, Poll Tax for Yorkshire
• Alicia Jone-doghter, 1379, Poll Tax for Yorkshire
• Johanna Jone-wyf, Poll Tax for Yorkshire
• Jane Joneson, of Audlem, widow, 1594, Wills at Chester
• Jane Joneson, of Martin, widow, 1605, Wills at Chester

Joneson has become absorbed by Johnson. Indeed, Joynson is the only variant that remains.

Though its origins are in England, the surname is predominately held by people of Welsh extraction due to the overwhelming use of patronymics in Wales from the 16th century and the prevalence of the name John at that time.

1 John’s (Son): v. John.

2 (occasionally) Joan's (Son): Joan, a fem. form of John.

Matilda Jones.—Hundred Rolls ‘In Wales, the surnames, if surnames they can be called, do not present the same variety [as in England], most of them having been formed in a simple manner from the Christian or fore-name of the father in the genitive case, son being understood, Thus, Evan’s son became Evans, John's son Jones, etc.’—16th Ann. Rept. of the Reg.-Gen. for English and Wales.

This, the most numerous surname in Wales and common in England, is also one of the most numerous settler names in Ireland. It is found in every county, especially in the larger towns. Bibl; MIF 282*. It has been gaelicized as Mac Seoin

Welsh form of “John”.

(Welsh, English) The son of Jone, the Welsh pronunciation of John (gracious gift of Jehovah).

A genitive form of John, through Johnes, common everywhere in England, hut superabundant in Wales. Next to John Smith, John Jones is probably the most common combination of names in Britain. As the Registrar-general well observes, "the name of John Jones is in Wales a perpetual incognito, and being proclaimed at the cross of a market-town would indicate no one in particular." From the able Report of the same functionary (XVI. 1856) we learn that Jones is, for numerousness, second only to Smith; for while within a given period the number of Smiths registered throughout England, as born, married, or dead, amounted to 33,557, the Joneses in like circumstances were 33,341-a singularly close approximation. Old Daniel Fenning, the author of the immortal phrase, "Smith, Jones, Brown, and Robinson," was therefore quite right as to the order of precedence of the first two names, though the Beg. Gen. puts Brown sixth, and Robinson eleventh, on the roll of common surnames. The existing number of Joneses is estimated at 51,000 families, or about a quarter of a million of individuals. XVI. Report, p. xxii.

(Hebrew.) The same as John or Johns, and signifies gracious.

Jones. —It is needless to remark that Jones is the most characteristic of Welsh surnames, being especially frequent in North Wales, where one out of every seven persons is thus named. Having occupied the English counties on the Welsh border in great force, the Joneses have advanced on the metropolis from their home in North Wales, and after founding colonies era route, in Northamptonshire and Bucks, they have pushed on to the shores of Essex and Kent. In the counties north of Lincolnshire and Lancashire Jones has not been able to obtain a footing.

Jones, the genitive form of John, is not in its modern form an ancient Welsh name, and we usually find that it has been adopted within the last three or four centuries, as in the case of the noted Monmouthshire family of Jones of Treowen, that carries its pedigree but not its name back to the reign of Henry I. (Williams' "Monmouthshire").

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.