"It stands for one of my father's peculiarities. I think I have told you  how proud he was that we are direct descendants of John Paul Jones.  'John Paul,'" he would often say, 'has ennobled the name of Jones, so  that to be a Jones is to bear the proudest name known to mankind.' When  I was born they were undecided what to name me. 'There is no hurry about  it,' said my father; 'whatever we call him, he is a Jones.' My mother  must have been something of a humorist. She kept referring to her baby  as 'a Jones' until father caught the absurd idea of letting it go at  that, and had me christened merely 'A. Jones.'"