The surname Ames is usually either French, English or German in origin.[1] The French name comes from the noun amie, meaning a friend or a beloved. The surname also derives from the Old French and Middle English personal name Amys or Amice, the Latin amicus, or from a Late Latin derivative of this, Amicius.[1] The German roots of the name could have come from the Old High German word amazzig, meaning "busy," as a nickname for an active person.[1] The name also has connections to the modern German name Ameise, meaning "ant".[1]
Variations of the surname include Aames, Amess, Amies, Amis, Amiss, Amos, Hames, Haymes, Eames, and others.[2] The name may also be a contraction of Ambrose.[3]
The Ames family is an old and notable family in the United States.
People with the surname
- A. A. Ames (Albert Alonzo Ames, 1842–1911), American physician and politician
- Adelaide Ames (1900–1932), American astronomer, co-author of the Shapley-Ames Catalog
- Adelbert Ames (1835–1933), American Civil War general
- Adelbert Ames Jr. (1880–1955), American scientist
- Adrienne Ames (1907–1947), American film actress
- Aldrich Ames (born 1941), American convicted spy for the Soviet Union
- Alfred Elisha Ames, American physician and politician
- August Ames (1994–2017), Canadian pornographic actress
- Azel Ames (1845–1908), American physician, author, and public health authority
- Blanche Ames Ames (1878–1969), American artist, inventor, writer, and prominent supporter of women's suffrage and birth control
- Blanche Butler Ames (1847–1939), the wife of Gen. Adelbert Ames
- Bruce Ames (born 1928), American biochemist
- Cheney Ames (1808–1892), New York politician
- David Ames (disambiguation), several people
- DeHart H. Ames (1872–1955), New York politician
- Ed Ames (1927–2023), American popular singer and actor
- Eleanor Maria Easterbrook Ames (1831-1908), American writer, publisher
- Ezra Ames (1768–1836), American portraitist
- Fisher Ames (1758–1808), Congressman from Massachusetts
- Frederick Lothrop Ames (1835–1893), American railroad tycoon, grandson of Oliver Ames Sr.
- Frederick Lothrop Ames Jr. (1876–1921), Massachusetts financier and socialite, great-grandson of Oliver Ames Sr.
- Herman Vandenburg Ames (1865–1935), American historian
- Hermes L. Ames (1865–1920), New York politician
- James Ames (disambiguation), several people
- John Ames (disambiguation), several people
- Jonathan Ames (born 1964), American author
- Joseph Ames (disambiguation), several people
- Julia A. Ames (1816-1891), American journalist, editor, reformer
- Leon Ames (1902–1993), American actor
- Lydia May Ames (1863–1940), American painter
- Les Ames (1905–1990), English cricketer
- Mary C. Ames (1831–1884), American journalist, author, poet
- Nathaniel Ames (1708–1764), American almanac maker
- Nadine Ames (born 1991), Indonesian actresses
- Oakes Ames (1804–1873), American manufacturer and Congressman from Massachusetts
- Oakes Ames (botanist) (1874–1950), American botanist
- Oakes Angier Ames (1829–1899), industrialist and philanthropist from Massachusetts
- Oliver Ames (disambiguation), several people
- Rachel Ames (born 1929), American actress
- Ramsay Ames (1919–1998), American movie actress
- Red Ames (1882–1936), Major League Baseball pitcher
- Roger Ames (born 1942), American Anglican priest
- Roger T. Ames, Canadian sinologist, linguist, and translator of a version of the Analects of Confucius and the Zhongyong
- Rosemary Ames (1906–1988), American film actress
- Samuel Ames (1824–1875), New York politician
- Samuel Ames (jurist), Chief Justice of Rhode Island 1856–1866
- Solace Ames, American writer
- Stephen Ames (born 1964), golfer from Trinidad and Tobago and Canada
- William Ames (1576-1633), English theologian
- William Ames (Quaker) (died 1662), English preacher
- Winthrop Ames (1870–1937), American producer and playwright; son of Oakes Angier Ames
- The Ames Brothers, 20th-century American singing quartet
References
- 1 2 3 4 "Ames name meaning". Ancestry.com. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
- ↑ "Ames History, Family Crest & Coats of Arms". Houseofnames.com. Retrieved 17 November 2018.
- ↑ "Robert Eames (Ames) c. 1640". www.geni.com. Retrieved 17 November 2018.