Pond-Jones

As with many old English personal names such as "Alfgar" composed of the disparate elements "aelf", elf and "gari", spear, double-barrelled names, (usually created following a marriage between two families), have no overall meaning, but the separate elements have their own meaning and derivation. In this instance, the name Pond derives from the medieval English "pond" meaning pond or enclosed expanse of water, and was originally given as a topographical name to one resident by this natural (or man-made) feature. One, John Ponde was recorded in the 1262 "Pipe Rolls of Essex". The name, Jones, second only to Smith as the most frequently recorded surname in the British Isles, is either a patronymic from the male given name John (from the hebrew "yochanan", "God has favoured me with a son"), or a metronymic from its female counterpart Joan or Jone. One, Matilda Jones was recorded in the 1279 "Hundred Rolls of Huntingdonshire". The first recorded spelling of the family name is shown to be that of William del Pond, which was dated 1190, "Records of Bury St. Edmunds", Suffolk, during the reign of King Richard 1, "Richard the Lionheart", 1189 - 1199. Surnames became necessary when governments introduced personal taxation. In England this was known as Poll Tax. Throughout the centuries, surnames in every country have continued to "develop" often leading to astonishing variants of the original spelling.