Head to head · Boys' names
David vs Thomas
#35 vs #34 in 2025
Thomas is a whisker ahead (#34 vs #35 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Thomas is back after a long quiet spell, David is stepping back from its peak.
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Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
The tale of the tape
On the charts, Thomas leads 3 measures of 6; David leads 2.
Ranks, counts and years are measured in the official US birth record; the classroom and living figures are estimates computed from it. The dot marks the side each measure favours on the charts — more common, not better.
What the records say
146 years of US births, drawn on one scale
Two curves, one scale
Who owned which decade
- 1880s: David #21, Thomas #10 — Thomas higher
- 1890s: David #28, Thomas #12 — Thomas higher
- 1900s: David #31, Thomas #11 — Thomas higher
- 1910s: David #29, Thomas #10 — Thomas higher
- 1920s: David #22, Thomas #11 — Thomas higher
- 1930s: David #11, Thomas #9 — Thomas higher
- 1940s: David #6, Thomas #8 — David higher
- 1950s: David #4, Thomas #8 — David higher
- 1960s: David #2, Thomas #10 — David higher
- 1970s: David #4, Thomas #21 — David higher
- 1980s: David #5, Thomas #24 — David higher
- 1990s: David #12, Thomas #28 — David higher
- 2000s: David #13, Thomas #43 — David higher
- 2010s: David #20, Thomas #55 — David higher
- 2020s: David #30, Thomas #42 — David higher
David stood higher in 9 of 15 decades; David has held the lead since the 1940s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | David | Thomas |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #21 | #10 |
| 1890s | #28 | #12 |
| 1900s | #31 | #11 |
| 1910s | #29 | #10 |
| 1920s | #22 | #11 |
| 1930s | #11 | #9 |
| 1940s | #6 | #8 |
| 1950s | #4 | #8 |
| 1960s | #2 | #10 |
| 1970s | #4 | #21 |
| 1980s | #5 | #24 |
| 1990s | #12 | #28 |
| 2000s | #13 | #43 |
| 2010s | #20 | #55 |
| 2020s | #30 | #42 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
Around the world
David
- Canada#46
- England & Wales#64
- Scotland#92
Thomas
- Canada#10
- Scotland#21
- England & Wales#26
National statistics offices, latest published year.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
David
beloved
The traditional reading takes it from Hebrew dod, beloved or uncle. A second account connects it with an Akkadian and Mari word for a commander or chieftain, which would make it a title rather than a name. Beloved is the older and commoner reading; neither has been settled.
Dawid → David
How it traveled
The Tel Dan stele matters because it is hostile: it is an enemy's victory inscription, written within about a century and a half of the events, and it refers to the ruling house of Judah by its founder's name as a matter of routine. That is a very different kind of evidence from a text written by people with an interest in the story.
Thomas
twin
Aramaic te'oma, a twin. The Gospel of John glosses it with the Greek word for the same thing, Didymos, which is how the meaning is known with certainty rather than reconstructed. Nobody records whose twin he was.
te'oma → Thomas
How it traveled
The Nag Hammadi find changed the study of early Christianity. The Thomas text has no narrative, no crucifixion and no resurrection — only sayings, about half of which have parallels in the familiar Gospels and half of which do not — and scholars have argued ever since about whether it preserves early material or reworks it.
Where a reading is contested the note says so — this page does not turn a guess into a fact. The chain is each name's recorded forms, oldest first; the story is its opening, told in full on the name's own page.
Out loud, and in short
David
DAY-vid
Two syllables, stress on the first. Spanish and French put it at the end, da-VEED, with no audible d in the French. Hebrew says da-VEED as well. The English front-loading is the outlier.
- Dave — The default in English; plain, adult and used at work.
- Davy — The warmer form; often kept from childhood into adulthood.
- Dai — The Welsh clip, said DYE; ordinary in Wales and rare elsewhere.
- Dov — Used in Jewish families, where it is also a separate Hebrew name meaning bear.
Thomas
TOM-us
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the th said as a plain t. French says it the same way; Spanish moves the weight to the second, to-MAS. The h has been silent in English for centuries.
- Tom — The default in English; plain, adult, and a full name in its own right for many men.
- Tommy — The warm form; also British army slang for an ordinary soldier.
- Tomas — The Spanish and Irish form, used as a formal version in those families.
Who has carried each name
David
David Bowie (b. 1947) — Rock's endlessly reinvented starman
David Attenborough (b. 1926) — The voice of the natural world
David Beckham (b. 1975) — Soccer superstar who bent it like no one else
Thomas
Thomas Edison (b. 1847) — Held over 1,000 patents, including the light bulb
Thomas Jefferson (b. 1743) — Wrote the Declaration of Independence
Thomas Paine (b. 1737) — His pamphlet Common Sense sparked a revolution
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose David if you want…
- a name past its most crowded yearsDavid is stepping back from its peak
Choose Thomas if you want…
- a name on the way upup 11 places on the charts in five years
Each line is a measured difference between the two names — a rank, a count, a recorded form — never a judgement of either. Save the one that answers your question; it lands on your shortlist.
The trade-offs, name by name
David
Strengths
- A three-thousand-year record with independent archaeological confirmation of the dynasty.
- The same spelling in English, Spanish, French, Portuguese, German, Russian and Hebrew.
- Four short forms in different languages, all in genuine current use.
To consider
- It has been among the most given names in the English-speaking world for a century, so it carries no signal at all.
- Dave is what most people will settle on, so it is worth liking the short form too.
- The very few girls given this spelling will be read as boys on every form.
Thomas
Strengths
- A meaning the source text states outright rather than leaving to be reconstructed.
- The same or nearly the same spelling in French, Spanish, Irish, Portuguese and German.
- Three short forms, one of which is a full name in its own right.
To consider
- It is one of the most given names in the English-speaking world and has been for centuries.
- Tom is what most people will use, so it is worth liking the short form.
- The phrase about doubting will be made at some point, usually as a joke.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
With your last name
Say both in full. The notes are facts about letters and sound — a rhyme, a shared initial, the monogram — not a verdict on either name.
Type a last name to hear David and Thomas in full.
Weighing the whole shortlist? Run the full comparison — up to eight names with your last name, initials, classroom projections and a printable report.
Decide together
Nobody names a baby alone
Still torn between David and Thomas?
Put both to the vote.
One link to your partner, your parents, your sister. Each of them gets the two names, a one-tap answer and room to say why — and every reply lands in one place.
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More than two in the running? Settle it with a bracket or run the full comparison with your last name.
More head-to-heads
Same measures, different pair. Sixty more are dealt daily in the arena.
Lists that carry both names
- Names that never go out of style
- Transatlantic hits: loved on both sides of the ocean
- America's top 100 names right now
- The top-10 club: every name that made it
- all guides
Every list here names both David and Thomas — the same style, ranked by the same records.
David or Thomas — the short answers
- Which is more popular, David or Thomas?
- Thomas, in 2025: Thomas ranked #34 with 6,917 babies; David ranked #35 with 6,794 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, David or Thomas?
- Thomas. Over the last five years David moved down 7 places; Thomas moved up 11 places.
- Which is the older name, David or Thomas?
- The US record cannot say: both were already in use when it began in 1880.
- How many people are named David and Thomas?
- About 2,764,000 people named David are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 1,497,000 people named Thomas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Davids or Thomass in the classroom?
- David will almost certainly be the only one in school. Roughly 1 in 10 classrooms will have a child named Thomas.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025; international figures from national statistics agencies. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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