Boy · English short form of an Aramaic name
Tom
Say it: TOM
Meaning
A short form of Thomas, from Aramaic te'oma 'twin'.
Certainscholars agree on this meaning.
Used as a nickname for Thomas since the Middle Ages.
Its wave through time
Fading since the 1880s
In the United States
- 140,072 babies given this name since 1880
- At its height in 1880, about 1 in 277 boys
- 57 babies in 2020
Through the ages
- 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
The family of the name
Other spellings: Thom
Famous bearers
- Tom Hanks, American actor
Names worth a look
Where this comes from
- English poll taxes and lay subsidy rolls (13th and 14th centuries)
- Well-known works of literature
- United States Social Security birth records, 1880 to today source
- 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.