Eric, Very informative. Could you direct me to someplace that would explain that Jones came from Johnson. I was of the understanding they were Very split apart by many centuries, and of war-faring tribes that fought each other in pre Roman days. NOT trying to start any arguement.. just wondering... Randy

Randy, To say the Jones came from Johnson would not be correct. Only that the names mean the same thing. As Europe became Christianized, the common names used were often derived from the Bible. One of, if not the most common name was "John", in what ever form it took in the native language. Therefore names such as Jon, Ian, Jan, Johan, Johannes, Ivan, Juan, Jean, etc. were all derived from the Biblical name of John. Thus when you apply the regional patronymic you end up with Jones, Jansen, Johansson, Ivanovich, etc. The source of much the information was an article entitled "You Doesn't Have to Call Me Johnson" which I found on one of the genealogy sites on the web (Ancestry.com I thought). I just did a search for it and could not find it. Regards, Eric > Very informative. > Could you direct me to someplace that would explain that Jones came > from Johnson. I was of the understanding they were Very split apart > by many centuries, and of war-faring tribes that fought each other > in pre Roman days. NOT trying to start any arguement.. just > wondering...