:For other uses, see John Paul Jones (disambiguation). John Paul Jones (1747-7-6 - ) was America's first well-known naval hero in the American Revolutionary War.

John Paul Jones was born 'John Paul' in 1747, on the estate of Arbigland in the Stewartry of Kirkcudbright on the southern coast of Scotland. John Paul's father was a gardener at Arbigland, and his mother was a member of Clan MacDuff.

John Paul adopted the alias 'John Jones' when he fled to his brother's home in Fredericksburg, Virginia in 1773 to avoid the hangman's noose in Tobago after an incident when he was accused of murdering a sailor under his command, whom he claimed had been involved in a mutiny. He began using the name 'John Paul Jones', at the suggestion of his brother.

Although his naval career never saw him above the rank of Captain in the Continental Navy after his victory over the Serapis with the frigate Bonhomme Richard, John Paul Jones remains the first genuine American Naval hero, as well as a highly regarded battle commander. His later service in the Russian Navy as an admiral showed the mark of genius that enabled him to defeat the Serapis.

Jones simply was not as good a politician as he was a naval commander, in an era where politics determined promotion, both in America and abroad. Although he was originally buried in Paris, after spending his last years abroad, he was ultimately reinterred at the United States Naval Academy, a fitting homecoming for the "Father of the American Navy".

During his engagement with Serapis, Jones uttered, according to the later recollection of his First Lieutenant, the legendary reply to a quip about surrender from the British captain: "I have not yet begun to fight!"

John Paul Jones (born John Baldwin on January 3, 1946 in Sidcup, Kent) is an English multi-instrumentalist musician, and was known for being the bassist, the keyboardist and the mandolinist for rock band Led Zeppelin. In recent years he has developed a successful solo career, and is widely respected as both a musician and a producer. A versatile musician, Jones also plays guitar, koto, lap steel guitars, autoharp, ukulele, sitar, cello, and the three over-dubbed recorder parts heard on "Stairway to Heaven".

John Paul Jones (born about 1890) was an American track athlete who set several world records in the mile, including the first mile record to be ratified by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) in 1913.