Jones Last Name Origins
The origins of the last name "Jones" can be traced back to the United Kingdom and more specifically, the countries of England and Wales. The Jones surname is derived from the first name of John.
View a historical timeline of the Jones last name in our article titled Jones Family History.
One of the earliest documented references of the Jones Last Name can be found in 13th century records for England 1. For much of Wales, the use of Jones as a surname did not begin until about the 16th century, when the Welsh began to adopt the use of surnames (last names) as a naming convention. 2
Similar to England at an earlier time, in Wales the "Jones" surname was likely derived from "John" through a naming convention called Patronymics. Patronymics was at one time a common method for naming offspring in both England and Wales.
Our article titled Jones Patronymics provides an in depth explanation into how the Jones surname was derived from the given name of "John" using the patronymics naming convention.
In 16th and 17th century Wales, patronymics began to fall out of favor as an accepted naming convention. It was around this time that Welsh families began "settling upon" permanent last names, much like the english had done centuries earlier. The surname "Jones" was a name that many, many Welsh families settled upon. This is why it is the most popular last name in Wales, although it was first found in England.
Now that we know the origin of the Jones surname, it's time to get started with your Jones Genealogy research. To do so, please go to our article titled Getting Started With Jones Genealogy Research.
NOTE: Not all Jones families will be able to trace their roots back to Wales or the United Kingdom. Many Jones families of non-Welsh descent changed their last names to Jones for a variety of reasons. Our article titled Name Derivation goes into some detail for why this happened.
If you are a Jones of African descent, it's high likely possible that at some point, your ancestors may have changed their name or were given the surname like Jones. There are several reasons that this could have occurred. Some of these are outlined in our article titled Name Derivations. Other possible reasons are mentioned in the article, The Welsh and Slavery in America.
If you are interested in exploring African-American family genealogy, one of the best authors out there is Tony Burroughs. He has written a great book titled
Black Roots: A Beginners Guide to Tracing the African American Family Tree.
References and Sources:
1. The Origin of English Surnames by P. H. Reaney
2. The Surnames of Wales by John and Sheila Rowlands