Jones

Spellings & scripts●

Locally spelled Johns in TR Türkiye, IE Ireland.

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records; ○ marks a model's transliteration. Click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin●

Attested in 1 language in the etymology graph.

Languages●

Language is read off each record's context, not declared by the bearer; a share is of all records for this spelling.

Other names spelled this way◐

Jones is also recorded as 5 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

• a separate surname1.2M records spelled Jones4 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, Italy

  Also written Joneš, Jonés

• Spanish surname989K records spelled Jones35 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Argentina, United Kingdom, Brazil

  Languages: Spanish, Portuguese, Romanian

  Also written Jönes, Joñes, Jonés, Jõñes, Jöñēs

• French surname128K records spelled Jones3 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in France, United States, United Kingdom, Spain

  Languages: French, Catalan

• Hindi surname82K records spelled Jones30 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, United Kingdom, Canada, India

  Languages: Hindi, Urdu, Sinhala

  Also written Jonas, Janes, Jons, Jansa, Jonesh

• Polish surname56K records spelled Jones20 spellings in the group

  Most recorded in United States, Poland, United Kingdom, Czechia

  Languages: Polish, Czech, Croatian

  Also written Joneš, Јонес, Джоунс, Dzhouns, Џоунс

102 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses●

Jones is also recorded in 5 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

• patronymic from the Middle English personal name Jon(e) (see John). The surname is especially common in Wales and southern central England. In North America this name has absorbed various cognate and like-sounding surnames from other languages. (For forms, see Hanks and Hodges 1988).

  as a name·Dictionary of American Family Names

• In English, An English and Welsh surname originating as a patronymic derived from the given name John.

  as a word·kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

• In English, Surname meaning 'son of John'.

  as a name·Tên Họ Người Việt Nam

• In English, from Ieuan

  as a name·Welsh Surnames

• In Irish, 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. It has been gaelicized as Mac Seóin. Bibl; App

  as a name·The Surnames of Ireland

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Over time●

US SSA — National Baby Names (1880–present) — 142 years between 1880–2025. One register's own figures, never a sum across registers: two registers counting the same people would double them.

Notable people with this name●

• William Jonesb. 1746GBAnglo-Welsh philologist and scholar of ancient India (1746–1794)
• Mary Harrisb. 1830USnot in their usual nameIrish-born American labor and community organizer (1837–1930)
• Edith Whartonb. 1862USnot in their usual nameAmerican writer and designer (1862–1937)
• Ray Millandb. 1907GBnot in their usual nameBritish actor (1907–1986)
• Diana Wynne Jonesb. 1934GBEnglish children's fantasy writer (1934–2011)
• Tommy Lee Jonesb. 1946USAmerican actor and film director (born 1946)
• Nasb. 1973USnot in their usual nameAmerican rapper (born 1973)
• Alex Jonesb. 1974USAmerican far-right conspiracy theorist (born 1974)
• Jon Jonesb. 1987USAmerican mixed martial arts fighter
• Finn Jonesb. 1988GBBritish actor

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence●

Register rows as of the 2026-09-12 data build · 522 rows in the corpus for this spelling.

Frequently asked questions

How common is the name Jones?

We estimate roughly 1.4 million people bear Jones (counting its spellings and scripts) across 11 countries in our records.

In which country does Jones have the most bearers?

We estimate about 1.4 million people bear Jones in the United States, more than in any other country in our records, where it is most often spelled jones.

How common is Jones compared with other names?

In the United States, Jones is the 4th most common surname of 7,257,200 surnames recorded there.

What does the name Jones mean?

Recorded meaning: son of John; especially associated with Wales.