Stone Family Crest, Coat of Arms and Name History
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Learn MoreStone Surname Name Meaning, Origin, History, & Etymology
This last name has several origin theories and meaning. First, it is a topographic name denoting a person who lived on or near stony ground or by a stone boundary marker or monument, which derives from the Old English stan, meaning “stone”. Second, it is a metonymic occupational name for a person who worked as a stonecutter or mason. Third, it can be a locational/habitational surname denoting a person from any of the various locales throughout England named Stone (ex. places in Kent, Somerset, Buckinghamshire, and Gloucestershire). Fourth, in some cases, it can be an Anglicized or Americanized form of the Jewish/German Stein or Norwegian Stine. One source asserts the Stone family first became established in Cornwall, a rugged coastal area in the southwest of England.
Spelling Variations
Common spelling variants or names with similar etymologies include Stoan, Stones, Stane, Ston, Stein (German), and Stine. The name is part of numerous other names including Stonestreet, Stoneman, Stoneham, and Stoneman.
Popularity & Geographic Distribution
The last name Stone ranks 161st in popularity in the United Status as of the 2000 Census. The name ranks particularly high in the following five states: Kentucky, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, Vermont, and Alaska.
The surname Stone frequency/commonness ranks as follows in the British Isles: England (146th), Scotland (564th), Wales (156th), Ireland (824th) and Northern Ireland (823rd). In England, it ranks highest in county Dorset. In Scotland, the surname Stone ranks highest in Shetland. In Wales, it ranks highest in counties Carmarthenshire and Monmouthshire. In Ireland, it ranks highest in Kilkenny. In Northern Ireland, it ranks highest in county Down.
The name is also present throughout the remainder English speaking world: Canada (409th), New Zealand (238th), Australia (175th), and South Africa (567th).
The 1890 book Homes of Family Names by H.B. Guppy, states the following in regard to this surname: “Excepting its establishment in Derbyshire, this name is mostly restricted to the south of England and is especially at home in Berks and Bucks, and in the south – western counties of Somerset, Dorset, and Devon. It has probably in most cases a local origin, as in Somerset, Bucks, Kent, etc., where there are parishes and villages thus called”.
Early Bearers of the Surname
The earliest known bearer of this surname was Walter de Stanes who was recorded in the Staffordshire Chartulary in 1130 AD. Robert Ston was documented in the Curia Regis Rolls of Oxfordshire in 1212 AD. The Hundred Rolls of 1273 AD, a census of Wales and England, known in Latin as Rotuli Hundredorum lists three bearers of this surname: Warin de la Stane (Devon), Reginald ad Ston (Bedford), and John de la Stone (Sussex). Thomas de Stone of Roxburghshire, Scotland rendered homage in 1296 AD. The Poll Tax of Yorkshire in 1379 AD lists three bearerers of this last name: Johannes del Stone, Robertus del Stone, and Elena de Stons. Thomas de Stone was common councillor of Aberdeen, Scotland in 1435 AD. Robert atte Stone was recorded in the Close Rolls in 1302 AD. A one John atte Stone, county Somerset, England, was recorded in 1327 AD in Kirby’s Quest. An early baptism involving this name was John, son of Francis Stone, in St. James Clerkenwell, London, England in 1609 AD.
Stone Family Tree & Stone Genealogy
Stone of Streatley House
Emily Stone of Streatley House, Berkshire, daughter of James Morrell of Headington Hill, in 1830, married William Henry Stone of Streatley House, of the Middle Temple, a Justice of the Peace, Deputy Lieutenant, and High Sheriff. She was born in 1799. She had a daughter with him named Jane Mary. The lineage of this branch of the Stone family tree traces back to William Stone, High Sheriff, of Streatley House, who married Mary, daughter of Charles Morrell of Wallingford. He was succeeded by his son William Henry Stone, who died in 1863, whereupon he was succeeded by his widow, Emily Stone. The Stone Coat of Arms (erroneously called the Stone Family Crest) is blazoned in heraldry as follows: Per pale gules and azure, an eagle displayed between three cinquefoils or. Motto: Vive ut vivas.
Other Stone Pedigree & Family Trees
The progenitor or earliest known ancestor of this family was Philip Stone who was born in Ardleigh, Essex, England in 1220 AD. He had a son named Walter Atte Stone who was born in Great Bromley, Essex in 1240 AD. Walter in turn had a son named Philip. This Philip Stone or Atte Stone was born in Grat Bromley, Tendring, Essex around 1265 AD. Philip in turn had a son named Walter who was born in Little Bentley in 1285 AD. The following is a pedigree from him:
Unknown Stone
William Stone or Atte Stone (born in Ardleigh, Essex around 1365 AD)
Walter Stone (born in Ardleigh around 1390 AD)
John Stone (born in Ardleigh, Essex around 1420 AD)
Simon Stone (born in Ardleigh, Tendring in 1450 AD)
David Stone (born in Great Bromley in 1480 AD)
Simon Stone (born in Great Bromley, England in 1507)
John Stone (born in Great Bromley in 1535)
Henry Stone (born in 1566)
William Stone (born in Great Bromley in 1594)
Benjamin Stone was born in 1801. He married Sarah Ann Royal in Grand Falls, New Brunswick, Canada. He had two issue: Helen M. and Thomas. His son Thomas Charles was born in Victoria, Canada in 1856. He married Adella Myrtle, and he had the following issue with her: Eugene Elmer, Agnus Louise (Badger), Jennie Frances (Farnham), Effie Mabel (Conners), Ada Mary (Richards), Benjamin Thomas, Marilla Kempton (Libby), Walter Samuel, Wilbur Leroy, and Frank Preston. His son Walter Samuel Stone was born in Abbot, Maine in March of 1899. He married Elvire Louise Allen and he had issue with her named Mildred (Blanchard), Harvey, and Charlotte. His son Harvey E. Stone was born in the 1940s.
Early American and New World Settlers
A small boy John Stone was recorded as living in Virginia in February 1623. He came aboard the George in 1621. Another John Stone was recorded in the same state in the same year, and he came aboard the Swann around 1620.
Maximillian Stone, age 26, came to Virginia aboard the Temperance in 1620 under the muster of Georg Yearlleys.
Symon Stone, age 50, came to New England aboard the Increase in April 1635, along with his wife Joan, age 38, and their five children: Francis, Ann, Symon, Marie, and Joseph.
Richard Stone, age 13, came to the Barbados aboard the Alexander in May 1635.
Hugh Stone was buried in the parish of St. Michael’s, Barbados in October 1678.
Robert Stone and his wife, who had one child and one slave, were recorded in the town of St. Michaell’s, Barbados in 1680.
Francis, wife of John Stone, was buried in July of 1678 in the parish of Christ Church, Barbados.
Other early settlers in colonial America bearing this surname include Andrew Stone (Virginia 1635), Ann Stone (Boston 1635), and Ann Stone (Maryland 1743).
In Canada, two of the earliest settlers, Charity Stone and John Stone, were United Empire Loyalists (people who remained loyal to the British Crown during the American Revolution) who came to Belle Vue, Beaver Harbour, New Brunswick in 1783. In Australia, one of the earliest bearers was William Stone, a convict from Bristol, England who came in 1828 aboard the Albion, settling in New South Wales (then a penal colony). In New Zealand, E.J. Stone came to the city of Auckland in 1840.
Early Americans Bearing the Stone Family Crest
Charles Bolton’s American Armory (1927) contains five entries for this surname:
1) [Argent] 3 cinquefoils [sable] on a chief azure a sun or Crest: out of a ducal coronet or a griffin’s head bet 2 wings expanded [gules] bezantée. Motto: Humani nihil alienum. Notepaper Mrs. Stella Stone Welch, Hemet, Calif.
2) Argent a lion pass guardant sable. Crest: an eagle’s head erased ermine on a ducal coronet between two wings expanded. Motto: Mediocria firma. Bookplate Joel Stone, Manchester, 1852.
3) Argent a lion passant sable armed and eyed gules. Crest: a lion of the field. Framed water color owned by Miss Josephine M. Stone, Cambridge, Mass.
4) Or a chevron gules charged with a chevronel argent bet three flint stones azure in chief a mullet sable Crest: an eagle with wings extended, the dexter claw on a flint stone. Bookplate —– Stone. The flints are not unlike cinquefoils.
5) Per pale or and sable, a lion ramp counterchanged. An old ring owned by a desc. of Gov. Stone who d. 1695 has the arms engraved upon it. Crozier Va. Heral. 1908, p. 48. An old ring owned by a desc. of Gov. Stone who d. 1695 has the arms engraved upon it. Crozier Va. Heral. 1908, p. 48.
- Barton Warren Stone (1772-1844), American Evangelist during the Second Great Awakening
Crozier’s General Armory (1904) contains one entry for this name:
1) Simon Stone of Watertown, Massachusetts, 1635, originally from Bromley, Essex, England. Argent, three cinquefoils sable, on a chief azure a sun in splendor or. Crest: Out of a ducal coronet or, a griffin’s head between two wings expanded gules bezantee.
2) Gregory Stone of Massachusetts, Cambridge, 1635, originally from Bromley, Essex. He bore the same arms as Simon of Watertown mentioned above.
Matthew’s American Armoury (1907) and Bluebook contains one entry for this name:
1) Joseph Stone was born in Boston, MA in 1848 and was educated at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. In 1880, he married Minnie, daughter of Horatio Harris, and had two issue with her: Harris (born 1880) and Marion. Arms: Argent, three cinquefoils sable, on a chief azure a sun or. Crest: Out of a ducal coronet or, a griffin’s head between two wings gules bezantee. He was the son of Phinehas Jones Stone and Anna Maria Lindsey. He descended from David and Ursula Stone of Much Bromley, Essex, England, who was the son of Simon.
2) William Stone, Governor of Maryland from 1648-1655, the nephew of Thomas Stone, merchant and citizen of London, England. Arms: Per pale or and sable a lion rampant counterchanged. Crest: A unicorn’s head sable, issuing from rays or, maned and armed of the last, between two wings displayed of the first.
Mottoes
I have identified four Stone family mottoes:
1) Vive ut vivas (Live that you may live)
2) Mediocria firma (Mediocrity is safe)
3) Nil desperandum (Never despair)
4) Humani nihil alienum (Nothing human is foreign to me)
Grantees
We have 38 coats of arms for the Stone surname depicted here. These 38 blazons are from Bernard Burke’s book The General Armory of England, Ireland, and Scotland, which was published in 1848. The bottom of this page contains the blazons, and in many instances contains some historical, geographical, and genealogical about where coat of arms was found and who bore it. People with this last name that bore an Stone Coat of Arms (or mistakenly called the Stone Family Crest)
1) James Stone of badbury, Chiselden, Wiltshire, and New Inn, London, 2 or 22 December 1722.
2) Arthur Stone of the Inner Temple, and to the descendants of his father, John, late of Kensington, London, and also of the Inner Temple, by his first wife, Hephzibath, daughter and co-heiress of Arthur Banks, late of St. Albanks, county Hertfordshire, gentlemen, 15 January 1729.
3) Stone (Lowndes), before Norton, Robert, of Brightwell, county Oxford, Captain of the Grenadier Guards, 1872
4) Stone of Cuddington Park and Ewell, county Surrey (1873)
5) Stone to Elphinstone-Stone, Webb Elphinstone, Captain of the Royal Navy, of county Devon, and Scotland, 1879
6) Sir J.B. Stone (John Benjamin, Knight), of The Grange, Erdington, and Sutton Coldfield, county Worcestershire, 1891
7) Edward Stone of Blackheath, county Kent, son of Thomas, of Piddington, county Oxford
Notables
There are hundreds of notable people with the Stone surname. This page will mention a handful. Famous people with this last name include: 1) Allen E. Stone (1834-1908) who was an American architect born in Maine who was partner in the firm Stone, Carpenter, & Willson, and was best known for his buildings in Rhode Island including Providence Public Library, Union Station, and building at Brown University and the University of Rhode Island, as well as several private homes, 2) Arthur Burr Stone (1874-1943) who was an American aviation pioneer nicknamed “Wizard”, 3) Barton Warren Stone (1772-1844) who was an influential American preacher during the Second Great Awakening born in Port Tobacco, Maryland, 4) William Frederick Stone (1900-2009_ who was a British sailor in the Royal Navy who was born in Ledstone, Devon and served in both World Wars, 5) William Maximillian Stone (1603-1660) who was the 3rd Proprietary Governor of Maryland, 6) William Alexis Stone (1846-1920) who was the 22nd Governor of Pennsylvania, 7) William Joel Stone (1848-1918) who was a US Senator from Missouri from 1903-1918 and was previously the Governor of that state, 8) William Milo Stone (1827-1893) who was the 6th Governor of Iowa from 1864-1868, 9) William Stone (1791-1853) who was a member of the U.S. House of Representative from Tennessee, 10) Thomas Stone (1743-1787) who was an American lawyer and planter who was from Maryland and was a signer of the Declaration of Independence, and 11) Ruth Stone (1915) who was an American poet, teacher, and author from Roanoke, Virginia.
- William Maximillian Stone, 3rd Proprietary Governor of Province of Maryland (c. 1603 – c. 1660)
- Simeon Stone (1585-1665)
Blazons & Genealogy Notes
- memorial to Thomas Stone (d. 1604) of Trevigo
2) (Bodmin, co. Cornwall). Same Arms and Crest, without the quartering.
3) (Stone, co. Devon). Or, on a fess sa. three plates.
4) (Blackmore, co. Essex). Ar. three cinquefoils sa. on a chief az. a sun in splendour or. Crest—Out of a ducal coronet or, a griffin’s head betw. two wings expanded gu. bezantée.
5) (co. Essex). Per pale or and gu. an eagle displ. counterchanged.
6) (Lechlade, co. Gloucester). Or, a chev. quarterly az. and gu. betw. three flintstones of the last.
7) (co. Gloucester). Sa. three fleurs-de-lis or, on a chief of the last two bars gemels of the first.
8) (Wedmore, co. Somerset; Edward Stone, of Wedmore, b. 1589, son of Edward Stone, of Wedmore. Visit. Somerset, 1623). Per pale or and gu. an eagle displ. with two heads counterchanged. Crest—A spaniel pass. ar.
9) (Streatley House, co. Berks). Per pale gu. and az. an eagle displ. betw. three cinquefoils or. Motto—Vive ut vivas.
10) (co. Kent). Per fess or and gu. in chief three barrulets sa. in base as many fleurs-de-lis of the first.
11) (cos. Lancaster and York). Per pale or and az. a lion ramp. counterchanged.
12) (London; granted 1515; confirmed, 1614, to Sir Richard Stone, Knt., of Stuckling, Sheriff co. Huntingdon temp. Charles I.). Ar. three cinquefoils sa. a chief az. Crest—Out of a ducal coronet or, a griffin’s head erm. betw. a pair of wings or.
- Brightwell House
13) (Brightwell, co. Oxford; William Francis Lowndes Stone, Esq., D.C.L., of Brightwell Park, whose father, William Lowndes, Esq., of Astwood, co. Bucks, assumed the additional surname and arms of Stone, 1789, d. 1858, leaving as heiress his granddau., Catherine Charlotte Lowndes Stone, to. 1862, Captain Robert Thomas Lowndes Norton, who has assumed the prefix surname and arms of Lowndes-Stone). Quarterly, 1st and 4th, ar. three cinquefoils sa. a chief of the second, for Stone; 2nd and 3rd, ar. fretty az. on each joint a bezant, on a canton gu. a leopard’s head erased or, wreathed round the neck vert, quartering Carleton, Layton, and Lowe. Crests—1st, Stone: Out of a ducal coronet or, a griffin’s head erm.; 2nd, Lowndes: A leopard’s head erased or, with a chaplet vert. Motto—Mediocria firma.
14) (co. Dorset). Per pale or and gu. an eagle displ. with two heads counterchanged. Crest—A spaniel courant gu. Motto—Nil desperandum.
15) (Bedingham, co. Norfolk; arms from a monumental slab in Lowestoft Church). Per pale erm. and gu. over all an eagle displ. with two heads az.
16) (London; granted by Segar, Garter). Per pale or and sa. a lion ramp. counterchanged. Crest—A unicorn’s head sa. issuing from rays or, maned and armed of the last, betw. two wings displ. of the first.
17) (London; granted by Camden, Clarenceux). Or, on a pale az. three escallops of the first. Crest—A seahorse or, crined gu. tail ppr. holding betw. the forefeet an escallop gold.
18) (London). Or, a chev. gu. surmounted of a chevronel ar. betw. three flintstones az.
19) (London). Gu. an eagle displ. or, ducally gorged az.
20) (London, and Cliff, co. Sussex). Sa. a fess betw. three tigers pass. or. Crest—Out of a ducal coronet a demi peacock, wings expanded all or.
21) (Holme, juxta Mare, co. Norfolk). Gu. a chev. erm. betw. three pelicans vulning themselves or.
22) (Wavesdon, co. Suffolk), Per pale or and az. on a fess wavy betw. four cinquefoils two Crests all counterchanged. Crest—A demi lion.
23) (Framfield, co. Sussex; granted II Dec. 1628). Sa. a chev. engr. betw. three cinquefoils ar. Crest—A demi cockatrice rising ar. winged and created or.
24) (Badnury, co. Wilts; granted 22 Dec 1722). Gu. a chev. erm. betw. three lozenges or, each charged with an erm. spot sa. Crest—On a mount vert a horse courant sa. bridled, crined, and hoofed or.
25) (co. Worcester). Erm. on a chief gu. three stags’ heads couped or.
26) Paly of six or and gu. over all an eagle displ. sa.
27) Ar. a lion pass, guard, sa.
28) Ar. five leopards’ faces in cross sa.
29) Sa. a chev. engr. betw. three flintstones ar.
30) Or, a chev. Quartered az. and purp. betw. three flintstones of the second.
31) Quarterly, 1st, or, two bars vaire ar. and sa.; 2nd, gu. two bars vaire or and sa.; 3rd, as the second; 4th, or, three fleurs-de-lis gu.
32) Ar. a cross gu. in the 1st quarter a catharine-wheel of the second.
33) Sa. a cross raguly or.
- George Stone (c. 1708-1764), Archbishop of Armagh, Primate of All Ireland
34) (Reg. Ulster’s Office, 1713, to Richard Stone, of Dublin, LL.D., Master in Chancery). Az. three cinquefoils az. a chief or. Crest—Out of a ducal coronet or, a griffin’s head betw. two wings erm.
35) (George Stone, D.D., Archbishop of Armagh, 1747-1764). Ar. three cinquefoils sa. a chief az.
36) (Elphinstone-Stone. Webb Elphinstone Elphinstone-Stone, Esq., 7, Brunswick Terrace, Exinouth, co. Devon). Quarterly, 1st. and 4th, per pale or and az. an eagle displ. with two heads betw. two flaunches each charged with an anchor erect, all counterchanged, for Stone; 2nd and 3rd, ar. guttee de sang on a chev. embattled sa. betw. three boars’ heads erased gu. two swords ppr. hilted and pommelled or, for Elphinstone. Crests—1st, Stone. In front of an anchor lying fesswaysor, a swan’s head and neck couped ar. beaked sa.; 2nd, Elphinstone: Out of a mural crown gu. a lady from the middle, well attired ppr. holding in her dexter hand a sword and in her sinister hand a laurel branch both also ppr. Motto—True to the end.
37) Per pale or and sable a lion rampant counterchanged. Crest: A unicorn’s head sable, issuing from rays or, maned and armed of the last, between two wings displayed of the first.
38) Or a chevron gules charged with a chevronel argent bet three flint stones azure in chief a mullet sable Crest: an eagle with wings extended, the dexter claw on a flint stone.
