Head to head · Boys' names
Tomas vs Trevor
#691 vs #679 in 2025
Trevor is a whisker ahead (#679 vs #691 in 2025), but the curves point different ways: Trevor is stepping back from its peak, Tomas is holding its place on the charts. On momentum, Tomas has the edge.
Cast your vote
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, Trevor leads 4 measures of 6; Tomas 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: Tomas #493, Trevor — — Tomas higher
- 1890s: Tomas #638, Trevor — — Tomas higher
- 1900s: Tomas #529, Trevor — — Tomas higher
- 1910s: Tomas #638, Trevor #2453 — Tomas higher
- 1920s: Tomas #514, Trevor #2632 — Tomas higher
- 1930s: Tomas #501, Trevor #2045 — Tomas higher
- 1940s: Tomas #496, Trevor #1533 — Tomas higher
- 1950s: Tomas #530, Trevor #1151 — Tomas higher
- 1960s: Tomas #540, Trevor #567 — Tomas higher
- 1970s: Tomas #497, Trevor #193 — Trevor higher
- 1980s: Tomas #478, Trevor #117 — Trevor higher
- 1990s: Tomas #474, Trevor #64 — Trevor higher
- 2000s: Tomas #500, Trevor #111 — Trevor higher
- 2010s: Tomas #680, Trevor #282 — Trevor higher
- 2020s: Tomas #715, Trevor #543 — Trevor higher
Tomas stood higher in 9 of 15 decades; Trevor has held the lead since the 1970s.
Rank by decade
| Decade | Tomas | Trevor |
|---|---|---|
| 1880s | #493 | — |
| 1890s | #638 | — |
| 1900s | #529 | — |
| 1910s | #638 | #2453 |
| 1920s | #514 | #2632 |
| 1930s | #501 | #2045 |
| 1940s | #496 | #1533 |
| 1950s | #530 | #1151 |
| 1960s | #540 | #567 |
| 1970s | #497 | #193 |
| 1980s | #478 | #117 |
| 1990s | #474 | #64 |
| 2000s | #500 | #111 |
| 2010s | #680 | #282 |
| 2020s | #715 | #543 |
Average national rank across each decade. A dash means the name sat outside the recorded top of that decade.
The names themselves
Meaning, roots, sound and the people who carried each
Where each name comes from
Tomas
twin
From Aramaic te'oma, 'twin'. The Gospel of John glosses the apostle's name with the Greek word Didymos, which means the same thing.
Te'oma (Aramaic) → Thomas (Greek) → Thomas (Latin) → Tomás / Tomáš → Tomas
How it traveled
The name begins in Aramaic as te'oma, 'twin', and reaches the wider world through the apostle called Thomas in the Gospels — the one the Greek text also names Didymos. Greek and Latin carried it across the Mediterranean, and medieval Christendom spread it into nearly every European language, where each one filed down a different edge: Thomas in England and France, Tommaso in Italy, Tomasz in Poland, Tomás in Spain, Portugal and Ireland.
Trevor
Big settlement
From Welsh Trefor, from tref, 'homestead, town', and mawr, 'big'.
Trefor → Trevor
How it traveled
In Johannesburg in the 1950s the English priest Trevor Huddleston, who fought apartheid from the township of Sophiatown, gave a schoolboy called Hugh Masekela his first trumpet; Masekela became one of the great jazz musicians of Africa, and Louis Armstrong later sent the school band another. In 1945 Trevor Howard played the doctor in David Lean's Brief Encounter, who falls in love with a married woman at a railway station and lets her go.
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
Tomas
TOH-mahs
English speakers usually stress the first syllable. In Spanish and Portuguese the accented form Tomás puts the stress on the second: toh-MAHS. Both are correct for their own language, so it helps to decide early which one your family will use.
- Tom — The universal short form across English and most European languages; also stands alone as a given name.
- Tommy — Informal and affectionate, common from childhood on; used as an independent given name too.
- Tomi — Informal, familiar in Spanish- and Lithuanian-speaking families.
- Tomasito — Spanish diminutive, used within families rather than at school or work.
- Also Tomy.
Trevor
TREV-er
Two syllables with the stress on the first.
- Trev — The usual short form.
Is it right for you
The differences that decide it, laid out by what you want
Choose by what you want
Choose Tomas if you want…
- a name fewer children share#691 in 2025 — tomas will almost certainly be the only one in school
- a name on the way upup 16 places on the charts in five years
- plenty of nickname options5 recorded short forms — Tom, Tommy and Tomi
- a long American recordTomas was already in use when US records began in 1880
Choose Trevor if you want…
- a name most people already know#679 in 2025, 400 babies that year
- a name past its most crowded yearsTrevor is stepping back from its peak
- a name that stays wholeone recorded short form for Trevor (Trev)
- a newer arrivalTrevor entered the US charts in 1915
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
Tomas
Strengths
- Shortens to Tom and Tommy without any explanation needed anywhere in the English-speaking world.
- Works unchanged in Spanish, Portuguese, Czech, Lithuanian, Swedish and Norwegian — a rare thing for a name this short.
- A documented line running from Aramaic through Greek and Latin into nearly every European language.
To consider
- It will be written as Thomas by people who are not listening carefully — on forms, in emails, on class lists. Most bearers make peace with correcting it.
- The accent is a lifelong small decision: Tomás is standard in Spanish and Portuguese, but American systems drop diacritics constantly, so the two spellings will follow him around.
- Stress shifts between languages, so relatives may say the name differently from teachers. Families generally settle this by simply choosing one and repeating it.
Trevor
Strengths
- Instantly recognized and spelled as everyone expects.
- A settled Welsh meaning.
- Comes with Trev as a ready short form.
To consider
- It was very common a generation ago, so it reads as a name of that era.
- In Britain it can sound more middle-aged than it does in America.
- For a girl it would be very unusual.
Documented properties of each name — how it spells, travels and shortens — not opinions about the child.
How each is likely to age
Tomas
40%chance Tomas feels dated by 2040
Tomas sits in the calm middle of the cycle — neither chasing a wave nor sliding off one. Middle-of-the-cycle names age slowly and predictably.
Trevor
73%chance Trevor feels dated by 2040
Trevor is coming down from a big peak (#58 in 1994). This is the stretch of the cycle where a name starts to sound like the decade it ruled.
A reading of where each name sits on the long naming cycle — computed, not measured, and explained on the data page.
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 Tomas and Trevor 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 Tomas and Trevor?
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
Every list here names both Tomas and Trevor — the same style, ranked by the same records.
Tomas or Trevor — the short answers
- Which is more popular, Tomas or Trevor?
- Trevor, in 2025: Trevor ranked #679 with 400 babies; Tomas ranked #691 with 394 babies.
- Which name is rising faster, Tomas or Trevor?
- Tomas. Over the last five years Tomas moved up 16 places; Trevor moved down 273 places.
- Which is the older name, Tomas or Trevor?
- Tomas was already in use when US records began in 1880; Trevor entered the US charts in 1915. On the American record, Tomas is the older name.
- How many people are named Tomas and Trevor?
- About 25,000 people named Tomas are estimated to be alive in the US today. About 155,000 people named Trevor are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- Will there be other Tomass or Trevors in the classroom?
- Tomas will almost certainly be the only one in school. Trevor will almost certainly be the only one in school.
US figures from the Social Security Administration, 1880–2025. Votes are battle voters on this site, not the birth record. Data & methodology
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