Ames Name

As with many surnames in history, the Ames surname has had many spellings.  When researching your ancestors, you should keep in mind that spellings have changed over time.  Below are documented variant spellings we have found:

Aimes - Absalom Aimes came to New York from Scotland in the mid-1600's.  Some of his descendants changed to the Ames spelling over time and some documents for earlier Aimes have the Ames spelling.  This spelling is also seen in early Massachusetts records.

Ames - the William Ames line of Braintree, Massachusetts is one of the few early American Ames lines that has a consistently spelt "Ames" surname.

Amos - Hugh Amos, a freeman in Boston (1666), moved to Connecticut.  In three generations, his descendants changed their surname to Ames.

Ams - when the first wife of Thomas Eames of Framingham died, her death record was recorded under the surname "Ams".

Eames - most of the other early American Ames lines used this spelling.  Descendants of these lines sometimes converted to the "Ames" surname spelling later.

Eamms - early Framingham records for the Thomas Eames line can have this spelling variation.

Emes - the children of Thaddeus Eames (Thomas Eames line) had all of their births recorded with the surname "Emes" in Barre, Massachsuetts.

Emmes - many births of Eames children in Hopkinton, Massachusetts during the early 1700's were recorded as "Emmes" rather than "Eames".

Emms - Benjamin Ames of the Robert Ames of Boxford line had his marriage to Mehetable Cheeney recorded in Cambridge with this spelling.

Other spellings that have been reported are "Amess", "Amis", "Aymes", "Eammes", and "Ems".   Sometimes records can be indexed or recorded as true misspellings such as "Ernes" or "Arnes". If you are looking for your Ames/Eames ancestor, be sure to think outside the box for spelling variations.

Society members can read more about the Ames/Eames surname by clicking here and here to read newsletter articles on the subject.  If you know of other spelling variations or names that were changed to Ames or Eames, please contact us using the link below.