Simons
A common surname meaning “son of Simon,” ultimately from the biblical personal name Simon.
The #1,371 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 11,988 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Simons is a patronymic surname: it developed from the personal name Simon, with an added possessive/plural -s meaning “of Simon” or “Simon’s.” The given name Simon comes through medieval French and English from the biblical Hebrew name Shim‘on, usually understood as “he has heard” or “listening.” Historical spellings and related forms include Simonds, Symons, Simmons, and Simonson.
History
The name is well attested in English records in several spelling forms, and the historical dictionaries treat Simons as part of the same family as Simon, Simmonds, and Simmons. In Irish records it also appears among families using Anglicized patronymics and related forms such as Fitzsimons. In the United States it has remained a familiar but not extremely common surname, with multiple independent family lines likely contributing to its spread.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
The surname can show up in records in a whole cluster of spellings because scribes often wrote it exactly as they heard it, so one family line may appear as Simons in one century and Simmons or Symonds in another.
From the historical record
“SYMOND SYMONS^l =Simond8, Simons, q.v. SYMONDSON : Symond's Son, SYMPSON = Simpson, q.v. Syms”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)