Unusual First Names

Over the years genealogy has brought before my eyes some very unusual first names.  Different surnames, different geographical areas, different periods of time, and often different religious beliefs have all played some role.  The next series of posts will deal with this subject for the surname JONES.

However, to begin this topic it might be helpful to present the most common first names being used among the JONES surname branches.  The first table shows some work from years past published in my family newsletter.  Of course for my own JONES family, Virginia was the geographic area.  The time period was 1623 - 1666 since this was when my folks began to cross the great pond.  In addition other common surnames like Smith, Williams, Johnson, and Brown were studied to discover if there were any differences in the first names that were being recorded.  The four most common first names were William, Richard, Thomas, and John for the surname JONES.  Other first names that were being used at least 100 times during this period are also shown.  Interestingly, William was the most common first name among our JONES family tree branches.

 The second table shows other first names for JONES compared to the different surnames evaluated.  Only the surname Williams (a Welsh surname) shared any of these first names with JONES.  None of these names were used with Smith, Johnson, and Brown.  This would suggest that JONES and JOHNSON were not of the same tree branches.  It is an interesting list of first names used among the JONES families during the period researched.

 The next series of posts will present the very unusual first names.  Let's go!

Smith, Brown, Williams, Johnson, and Jones

The following article analyzes the use of first names. It presents the surnames SMITH, BROWN, WILLIAMS, JOHNSON, and JONES that were indexed in the first volume of Cavaliers and Pioneers, 1623-1666.

The first names were identified and grouped by surname. The first name "John" was the most common name used for Smith (67 times), Williams (94 times), Johnson (87 times), and Brown (48 times). It was not the first name used for Jones! (48 times).

William (78 times), Richard (51 times), Thomas (50 times), and then John (48 times) was found to be used as first names for the surname Jones. How about that. Who would have thought that William Jones was more common than John Jones!

John as first name was the most common name used among all the surnames analyzed, totally 344 times. The second most common first name was Thomas (223 times), then William (201 times) and Richard (114 times).

The tables to the right summarize these findings with the first name listed in the right hand column, and the surname across the top.

Interestingly, the many first names used with the surname Jones does not appear used the surname Johnson. This implies that those folks with the surname Johnson did not follow the same pattern of the Joneses! This would suggest to me that the surname Johnson did not share the same origins as the surname Jones.

The surname Williams shared the most first names. This implies that the surname Williams and Jones most likely have common roots. [Good Welsh names.]

Explore the first name usage for yourself, and see what impressions you gain.

The study was published 1999 in The Jones Genealogist, Vol.XI, No.1, May/June issue.