JONES

(origin: Heb.) The same as John or Johns, and signifies gracious.

Arthur, William (1857) An Etymological Dictionary of Family and Christian Names. New York: Sheldon, Blakeman. Public Domain.

JONES. A genitive form of John, through Johnes, common everywhere in England, but superabundant in Wales. Next to John Smith, John Jones is probably the most common combination of names in Britain. As the Eegistrar-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 Pieport of the same functionary (XVI. 1856) we learn that Jones is, for numerousness, second only to Smith ; for while within a given period the nmnber of Smiths registered throughout England, as born, married, or dead, amounted to 33,557, the Joneses in like circumstances were 33,311 — a singularly close approximation. Old Daniel Fenuing, the author of the immortal phrase, " Smith, Jones, Brown, and Eobinson," was therefore quite right as to the order of precedence of the first two names, though the Reg. Gen. puts Brown sixth, and Eobinson 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.

Lower, Mark A (1860) Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom. London: J.R. Smith. Public Domain.