Ames (surname)

The surname Ames is usually either French, English or German in origin. 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. 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. The name also has connections to the modern German name Ameise, meaning "ant".

Variations of the surname include Aames, Amass, Amess, Amies, Amis, Amiss, Amos, Hames, Haymes, Eames, and others. The name may also be a contraction of Ambrose.

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
 * Aaron D. Ames, American engineering researcher and professor
 * 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 actress and model
 * 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