Ames
Usually a surname of English or Norman origin, often explained as a form of Amis or Amy, or as a place-name surname from a Norman location.
The #1,598 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 13,793 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Ames has been explained in more than one way. In English records it is often grouped with Amis, Amies, Amiss, and Aymes, and treated as a patronymic from the medieval personal names Amy or Amys, ultimately from the same family of forms as Amice and Amia. Another traditional explanation, noted by some writers, is that it may be a corrupt spelling of a Norman place-name, especially Exmes in Normandy, with the initial sound preserved in English spelling and pronunciation. Because both explanations appear in the historical literature, the origin is best treated cautiously rather than as certain.
History
The name appears in medieval English records in several spellings, and Bardsley notes that in the United States Ames became the usual form. The surname was also discussed by 19th-century writers as possibly coming from Norman local origins, which reflects how often English surnames mix personal-name and place-name histories. Modern bearers may therefore descend from different lines that converged on the same spelling.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Bardsley remarks that Ames became the overwhelmingly common spelling in the United States, even though older English records preserve several related forms.
From the historical record
“villa." Itin. p. 373. AMES. A corrupt spelling, though still retaining the souird, of Exmcs, a town in the department of Orne, in Normandy. AMESBURY. A town in WHtshire. AMHERST. The pedigree Is traced to A.D. 1400, at Pcrabury, co. Kent, and the locality of Amherst is in that j^arish. AINIIAS. Camden treats this…”
— Patronymica Britannica: a dictionary of the family names of the United Kingdom