Tone

Family name origins & meanings

• English : variant of Town.
• Japanese : variously written, usually with characters meaning either ‘sword’ or ‘benefit’ and ‘root’, the latter version being used for the name of the Tone River, which was formerly the boundary between the provinces of Musashi (now Tōkyō and Saitama prefecture) and Shimōsa (now Chiba prefecture), until it was diverted in early modern times to become the northern boundary of Chiba. Some families may have taken their name from the name of the river.