Explore the Family Name Fones

The meaning of Fones

1. English (West Midlands): variant of Fone, usually, with post-medieval excrescent -s, from Middle English foun, faun (Old French foun, faon) ‘young animal, cub’, especially ‘young fallow deer, a fawn’. 2. Possibly an Americanized form of German Fanz, a nickname for a roguish or mischievous person, from Middle High German vanz ‘joker, rogue’.

Dictionary of American Family Names, 2nd edition, © Oxford University Press, 2022.

How common is the last name Fones in the United States?

Based on the Decennial U.S. Census data, the surname Fones has seen a slight decrease in popularity from 2000 to 2010. In 2000, Fones was ranked as the 30,003rd most popular surname, while in 2010 it slipped to the 32,524th position, indicating a change of -8.4%. The actual count of individuals with this surname also decreased during this period, from 738 in 2000 to 707 in 2010, a drop of 4.2%. Moreover, its proportion per 100k population declined by 11.11% over the decade.

	2000	2010	Change
Rank	#30,003	#32,524	-8.4%
Count	738	707	-4.2%
Proportion per 100k	0.27	0.24	-11.11%

Race and Ethnicity of people with the last name Fones

When we turn to the ethnic identity associated with the Fones surname, the Decennial U.S. Census data shows some changes between 2000 and 2010. While white ethnicity remained predominant at 93.92% in 2010, there was a minor decrease of 0.55% from 2000. The percentage of those identifying as Hispanic saw an increase of 18.79%, though they only constitute 3.54% of the total. The representation of Asian/Pacific Islander increased to 0.85% in 2010 from no recorded percentage in 2000. Those reporting two or more races went up by 25%. However, Black and American Indian/Alaskan Native percentages dropped to zero in the 2010 Census.

	2000	2010	Change
White	94.44%	93.92%	-0.55%
Hispanic	2.98%	3.54%	18.79%
Asian/Pacific Islander	0%	0.85%	0%
Two or More Races	0.68%	0.85%	25%
Black	0.95%	0%	0%
American Indian and Alaskan Native	0.95%	0%	0%