Daily AncestorJon.
Jon. is an old abbreviation of the first name Jonathan, found in deeds, wills, church registers and census pages.
Jon. is a clerk's shortening of the given name Jonathan. Busy writers cut common first names down to a few letters, often raising the last letters above the line, and the habit runs through deeds, wills, tax lists and census pages.
Jon. and Jno. look alike on the page but usually stand for different names: Jno. is John, Jon. is Jonathan. Read the order of the letters with care, and check for a fuller spelling elsewhere, because a misread turns one man into another.
As seen in a recordSignature line on a colonial deposition
Jon. Fisk, Esq., Justice of the Peace
Sources
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Jon.." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/abbreviations/jon. Last checked 2026-10-01.