Tone Family History

English: variant of Town. This form of the surname has been established in Ireland since the 16th century.

Japanese (pronounced as two syllables): variously written usually either 刀根 ‘sword’ and ‘root’ or 利根 ‘benefit’ and ‘root’ the latter version being the name of the Tone River which was formerly the boundary between the provinces of Musashi (now Tokyo 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.