Boy · Aramaic, through Greek
Thomas
Say it: TOM-us
Meaning
Aramaic te'oma, 'twin'; John 11:16 gives its Greek equivalent Didymus.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Rare before the Norman Conquest, it became one of the commonest English names after the murder of Thomas Becket in 1170.
Its wave through time
Timeless: in steady use for over a century
In the United States
- 2,333,549 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1951, about 1 in 39 boys
- 6,393 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- The Biblical WorldAbout 1200 BC to AD 100
- The High and Late Middle Ages1100 to 1450
- The Renaissance1400 to 1600
- The Colonial Americas1500 to 1800
- The Age of Revolutions1750 to 1837
- Victorian and Belle Époque1837 to 1914
- The Modern Age1880 to today
Used by
AramaicEarly ChristianEnglishAmericanFrenchSpanishItalianPortugueseGermanPolishIrishWelshDutchDanish
The family of the name
Other spellings: Thom, Tomas
| French | Thomas |
|---|---|
| Spanish | Tomás |
| Italian | Tommaso |
| Portuguese | Tomás |
| German | Thomas |
| Polish | Tomasz |
| Russian | Foma |
| Irish | Tomás |
Famous bearers
- Thomas the Apostle
- Thomas Becket, archbishop of Canterbury
- Thomas Aquinas, theologian
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- The Hebrew Bible and the New Testament
- English poll taxes and lay subsidy rolls (13th and 14th centuries)
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- Lives of the saints and early Christian martyrologies
- Parish baptism registers
- Calendars of saints and name days
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
Meanings and histories are compiled from the study of names and their languages and checked by a second review.
Meanings and histories are drawn from the study of names and their languages, each with a confidence rating; popularity figures come from official birth records. Name histories are a living field: if you know of a correction, we would be glad to hear it.