Thom
Masculine · “Twin”
Thom keeps the h and throws away everything after it, which is a deliberate signal: the h is the only letter in the short form that tells you the long name is Thomas rather than anything else.
How old is the name Thom?
Thom first appears in US birth records in 1917 — 108 years ago. The typical Thom alive today was born around 1961, making them about 64 years old. About 600 people named Thom are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Thom most popular?
Thom peaked in 1948, reaching #1378 nationally. See the whole 1948 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From Te'oma to Thom
The story of Thom
Greek wrote this name with a theta, a letter for a sound that Greek had and Latin did not. Latin transliterated it as th, which was a good approximation at the time, and then the sound in Greek drifted and the Latin spelling stayed — so English inherited a two-letter combination that in this name says a plain t, while in other words it says the sound in think. English has two th sounds and a third silent option, all written the same way, distributed by history rather than by rule. A short form that keeps the h is holding on to the only visible piece of that history.
Meaning
Twin
The Aramaic word means a twin, and it was a byname rather than a given name in the Gospels — whose twin is never stated. The h in the spelling is a Greek theta that English says as a plain t.
How the name formed
- Te'oma
- Thomas
- Thom
Related forms: Thom
Pronouncing Thom
TOM
One syllable. The h is silent and identifies the long name rather than changing the sound.
Nicknames for Thom
Limited
What the data says
146 years of official birth records
The long climb, and where it stands now
The same years in position rather than babies
- First recorded
- 1917
- Most boys named
- 196132 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1378reached in 1948
- Change vs 2019
- 0.0%5 in 2021, from 5
Rank is a position, a count is a headcount, and they move independently — a name can hold its rank while the number of babies behind it falls. Source: U.S. Social Security Administration.
Thom in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Thom in French — same name
Thoms among us
people named Thom are estimated to be alive in the US today
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
Questions parents actually ask
Fashion outlook
Thom sits outside the current charts, and that is its own kind of answer: naming cycles can only date the names they carried up. A name this rare has no decade stamped on it — it cannot go out of fashion, because it was never in.
Based on 146 years of naming cycles. How we read them
The trade-off
- The name behind it is ancient, universal and impossible to get wrong.
- It is short and works at any age.
- The spelling distinguishes it without making it harder to say.
- Tom is the standard spelling and his will be written that way constantly.
- The h invites a question every time the name is given.
- It reads as a nickname, so the long form will be assumed.
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Thom
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Thoms are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 600 people named Thom are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Thom in 2025?
- Thom is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Thom with classmates?
- Thom will almost certainly be the only one in school.
More T names
The most-given names starting with T, all years combined.
Thomas#34 · Timothy#203 · Tyler#219 · Terry#1115 · Theodore#4 · Travis#434 · Todd#1609 · Tony#783
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Thom? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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