Home | Contact Me | The Origin and Meaning of the Surname Jones | Our Jones Family History | Our Jones Family Tree | Our Jones Family Tree Part 2. | Photographs | Curriculum Vitae | Curriculum Vitae (2) | Armorial Bearings | The Jones Name Tartan | The Manor of Holdingham | Lords of the Manor of Holdingham | Domesday Book | Holdingham | Sleaford Castle | St. Denys's Church | The Market Place | Heraldry of Sleaford | Other Surnames Being Researched | West Family Tree | Mercer Family Tree | Baldey Family Tree | Cuttress Family Tree
PETER N. JONES, LORD OF HOLDINGHAM
The Origin and Meaning of the Surname Jones


Surnames came into general usage as a direct result of the Norman Conquest in 1066, and are to be found in the Domesday Book in 1086. The names themselves reflect the influence of earlier invaders the Celts, Romans, Anglo-Saxons and the Danes. During the reign of Edward II (1307-1327), the use of surnames became increasingly accepted practice. These can be classified into four principal categories, those related to Patronymics (Father's name as surname of son), together with those derived from Locational and Occupational sources and Nicknames.
Jones has many related varients which are related as to root, derivation or usage. These include Fitzjones, Joan, Joanes, John and Joynes.
Jones is one of the many variants of John, a name taken from the Hebrew language and found throughout Christendom. The Hebrew name Johanan meaning Jehovah has favoured, was usually Latinized in very early documents as Johannes. Not until about 1140 do we see it as Jones.
The Welsh form was 'Ieuan', and the form 'Ioan' was adopted for the Welsh Authorized Version of the Bible, hence the frequency of the name Jones.
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. Some of these earliest recordings are:-
Matilda Jones. County of Huntingdonshire 1273 ref. Hundred Rolls.
Alanus Filius Jene appears in the 1275 annals of Lincolnshire.
Ralph Jonesman. Recorded in the Reign of Edward I (1272-1307) ref. Close Rolls.
Jones is found as a surname at Glinton (North) in 1304. (Glinton appears to be north of Peterborough and east of Stamford), in Staffordshire in 1309 and frequently in 1327 in Worcestershire, 4 times in Suffolk, 8 in Shropshire and 11 times in Somerset.
The Welsh were much later in embracing the English form of Surnames, the pattern emerging after the administrative union with England in the 16th century. Even this development was confined to those dealing with the English bureacracy, most rural areas not adopting the practice until the 18th century and later. Many names often taken from the Old Testament, due to the strong Nonconformism, gave rise to Jones, "John"; Davies, "David; the stock of Welsh surnames being greatly restricted due to these of factors. The Welsh patronymic prefix "ap, ab", meaning literally "son of" remains in such names 1. Bowen-Owen and Probert-Robert. Due to the large number of people bearing the same Surnames, Welshmen are often defined in their daily lives, by the use of bynames, associated with their occupation such as Jones the Butcher or Williams the Dustman.

AMERICA. Some of the first settlers of this name or some of its variants were: Anne Jones who settled in Virginia in 1648; also settled in Virginia were Charles Jones in 1636; Christopher Jones in 1652 and David Jones in 1636.

AUSTRALIA. Jones is a First Fleet surname, having been borne by a Marine Private, Thomas Jones, and a number of convicts including Thomas Jones, convicted of housebreaking at Bristol, sentenced to death, later commuted to 14 years transportation.
Other convicts included:
 
Name                   Where Sentenced   Term
Francis Jones       Worcester               7 yrs.
Thomas Jones      Warwick                 7   "
Edward Jones       London                   7   " 
Margaret Jones     Launceston           14  "
John Jones           Exeter                   14  "
William Jones       Shewsbury              7  "
Richard Jones       Shewsbury              7  " 


___________________
 
 
 
WELSH SNIPPETS
 
 
THE WELSH LANGUAGE
 
   Welsh, one of Europe's oldest languages can be traced back to the 6th century.  It is a Celtic-based language which has 28 letters, but omits the consonants j, k, q, v, x and z.  It is phonetic, written as it is spoken, with the emphasis generally placed on the penultimate syllable. 
 
 
   a   short or long                  ll   mixture of hl and
   b   as in English                        Scottish ch
   c   like the English k           m  as in English
   ch guttural, like Scottish     n   as in English
         'loch'                          o   short or long
   d   as in English                 p   as in English
  dd  th, as in 'then'              ph  English f
   e   short or long                 r    rolled like Scottish r
   f    like English v                rh  aspirate made at back
  ff    like English f                       of throat
   g   as in 'goat'                   s    hard as in English 'sea'
  ng  as in 'hang'                   t    as in English
   h    as in English                th   voiceless as in 'think'
   i     long e sound                u    short as in 'nip'
   l     as in English                w   short u as in 'bull',
                                       long as in 'root'   
                                                  y    e as in knee, o as in                                                  'not' or u as in 'funny'
 
 
  In the 2001 census 21% of the 3 million Welsh people could speak Welsh which was an increase from 18.7% in the 1991 census.
 
450 years after the English rulers replaced the Welsh language with the English language, in 1991 the Welsh language became an official tongue.
 
In 2008 the European Union recognised the Welsh language as a minority tongue in the 27 nation bloc.
 
 
 
THE GUINESS BOOK OF RECORDS 
 
  On November 3rd, 2006 the show "Jones Jones Jones" was held at the Wales Millenium Centre in Cardiff, the principality's capital city.  The saying "keeping up with the Joneses" couldn't have been more apt as 1,224 people created a new record for the largest gathering of people with the same surname.
 
All of the Joneses had to provide identification and present it to independent witnesses which was scrutinised by the Guinness Book of Records.
 
Joneses from across Wales and as far away as Australia descended on Cardiff to participate in this record breaking event in which many famous Joneses provided the evening's entertainment.
 
 
 
NO J!
 
  Jones, the most common surname in Wales begins with a letter which is not included in the Welsh Alphabet.
 
 
 
 
'LLANFAIRPWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYRNDROBWIIIIANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH'                                           

Not far from Caernarfon Castle is LLANFAIRWLLGWYNGYLLGOGERYCHWYRNDROBWIIIIANTYSILIOGOGOGOCH meaning: "St. Mary's Church, in a hollow of white hazel, close to a rapid whirlpool and St. Tusilo's Church, and near a red cave."  It is usually shortened to LLANFAIR P.G.  It is one of the longest place names in the World.