# So what exactly is a "Jones?"
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-exactly-is-a-jones/4605
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 7, 1999, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-exactly-is-a-jones/4605 "1999-11-07T05:55:00Z")
**Posts on this page:** 10
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)
#### Post date: [November 7, 1999, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-exactly-is-a-jones/4605/1 "1999-11-07T05:55:00Z")
Speaking without any references:
I’m under the impression that a lot of surnames arose from personal situations associated with people.
So you have occupations (Smith, Miller), colors, (Brown, Green), locations (Rivers, Fields), and so forth.
But what is a “Jones?” It’s a common name without an obvious (to me) origin.
Maybe it’s Spanish in origin, and it’s short for “cajones.”
OK, just kidding. Failing a satisfactory answer, my WAG is that it’s somehow a variant of John/Johns/Johnson.
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### Author:  [@tomndebb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tomndebb)
#### Post date: [November 7, 1999, 6:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-exactly-is-a-jones/4605/2 "1999-11-07T06:28:00Z")
The final **S** indicates a probability of Welsh origins (think Davis, Ffolkes, Evans, etc.) (This only works for names that _sound_ vaguely British; Santos is _not_ Welsh.)
**What’s In a Name** , by Rule and Hammond, backs this up, claiming that it is Welsh from Latin Johannes–John.
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Tom~
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### Author:  [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)
#### Post date: [November 7, 1999, 8:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-exactly-is-a-jones/4605/3 "1999-11-07T08:42:00Z")
Mjollnir:
> [@](#):
>
> I’m under the impression that a lot of surnames arose from personal situations associated with people.
I’m trying to visualize those “personal situations” _ **not** _ “associated with people.”
So maybe ‘jones’ came from ‘Jonah’s son’.
tomndebb:
> [@](#):
>
> The final S indicates a probability of Welsh origins (think Davis, Ffolkes, Evans, etc.) (This only works for names that sound vaguely British;
But the sound of one “British” clapping doesn’t sound like the next British clapping, if “British” = English / Scotch English or Welsh – or does “Welsh origins” = origins in English names used in Wales? In the cases you speak of, does the ‘s’ to the genitive, to ‘son’ or what?
Ray
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### Author:  [@cornflakes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cornflakes)
#### Post date: [November 7, 1999, 3:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-exactly-is-a-jones/4605/4 "1999-11-07T15:16:00Z")
Maybe the name comes from their tendency to long or desire to do stuff. The original Jones may have got those travelin’ jones, or those “need to post a dumb joke disguised as a WAG” jones, or…
…Sorry, I guess it’s just in my jones… 😉
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### Author:  [@Nickrz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nickrz)
#### Post date: [November 7, 1999, 5:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-exactly-is-a-jones/4605/5 "1999-11-07T17:13:00Z")
Cornflakes can be a jones, as can bastitbaw.
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### Author:  [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)
#### Post date: [November 8, 1999, 6:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-exactly-is-a-jones/4605/6 "1999-11-08T06:00:00Z")
On this page:
[http://www.library.ubc.ca/jones/vanety.html](http://www.library.ubc.ca/jones/vanety.html)
It says:
“Any Western surname is likely to reflect one of four things: an occupation (Smith), a parent’s given name (Jones – son of John), a place (Field), or a personal characteristic (Brown).”
Ray (an occupational type presently w/o an legitimate occupation, which explains why you’re reading this)
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### Author:  [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)
#### Post date: [November 8, 1999, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-exactly-is-a-jones/4605/7 "1999-11-08T06:11:00Z")
And this page:
[http://www.nii.net/~yonts/Section%2001a%20-%20Yonts%20Etymology.htm](http://www.nii.net/~yonts/Section%2001a%20-%20Yonts%20Etymology.htm)
says ‘Jones’ is a Welsh version of ‘Johnson’. And you can dance before that door to knowledge forever, because the author, lost in his constipated etymology, never gets off the John.
Ray (They musta always had daughters; never yet’ve heard of a Raymondson.)
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### Author:  [@NanoByte](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NanoByte)
#### Post date: [November 8, 1999, 6:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-exactly-is-a-jones/4605/8 "1999-11-08T06:46:00Z")
And this page:
[http://www.qsl.net/g7exo/evans.htm](http://www.qsl.net/g7exo/evans.htm)
says ‘Jones’ = ‘Evans’, which are both Welsh, and they equal ‘Johnson’ in English.
Ray ('Evans, would I Welsh on your bet?)
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### Author:  [@dfahs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dfahs)
#### Post date: [November 9, 1999, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-exactly-is-a-jones/4605/9 "1999-11-09T17:51:00Z")
> [@](#):
>
> Ray (They musta always had daughters; never yet’ve heard of a Raymondson.)
That’s because over time, the name came to be spelled Raisin. A lot of them settled in California. Or at least that’s what I heard through the grapevine. 🙂
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### Author:  [@Satan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satan)
#### Post date: [November 9, 1999, 10:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/so-what-exactly-is-a-jones/4605/10 "1999-11-09T22:00:00Z")
Okay, but how did the phrase “jonesing,” as in “Man, I smoked a bowl, and I’m jonesing for some munchies right about now” develop?
* * *
Yer pal,
Satan