Thomas
Masculine · “twin”
Thomas is overwhelmingly a boys’ name — 2,358,576 boys against 8,511 girls since 1880. See Thomas as a girl name
In 1945 two Egyptian farmers digging for fertilizer near Nag Hammadi found a sealed jar with thirteen leather-bound books in it. One of them was a collection of a hundred and fourteen sayings attributed to Jesus, with no story around them at all, and it is called the Gospel of Thomas.
How old is the name Thomas?
Thomas was already in use when US birth records began in 1880 — it is at least 145 years old. The typical Thomas alive today was born around 1957, making them about 68 years old. About 1,497,000 people named Thomas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Thomas most popular?
Thomas peaked in 1880, reaching #8 nationally. Today it ranks #34, 26 places below that high. See the whole 1880 chart.
Where it comes from
From te'oma to Thomas
The story of Thomas
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. Separately, and much older than any of that argument, there is a church in India that has always said Thomas came there. The Saint Thomas Christians of Kerala trace their community to a mission in the year 52, which would make it older than most European Christianity, and they have their own liturgy, their own history and a continuous existence of many centuries whatever the founding date.
Meaning
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.
Cultural footprint
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
Thomas More (b. 1478) — Statesman-saint who coined the word "utopia"
Source: Wikidata — the one source on this page that is not an official agency.
How the name formed
- te'oma
- Thomas
Related forms: Tomas · Tommaso · Thomas · Tomas · Foma · Tamas
Pronouncing 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.
Nicknames for Thomas
Moderate
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
- 1880
- Most boys named
- 195148,275 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #8reached in 1880
- Change vs 2022
- +6.2%6,917 in 2025, from 6,512
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.
Thomas in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tomas in Spanish — same name
- Tommaso in Italian — same name
- Thomas in French — same name
- Tomas in Irish — same name
- Foma in Russian — same name
- Tamas in Hungarian — same name
Strongest US states over the last decade: California, Texas, New York. International figures from Statistics Canada, National Records of Scotland, Office for National Statistics. Sources
Thomass among us
people named Thomas are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 boy in 247 born in 2025 was named Thomas
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
Fashion outlook
Thomas has held the top-100 across 15 different decades — it has never depended on fashion, and names like that read the same at any age.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Where Thomas is headed
Thomas should hold steady through 2030 — the curve is flat, and flat curves are the most predictable kind.
High confidence — fitted on official counts through 2025.
A damped-trend projection of the official birth data — a sketch of momentum, not a promise. Every name's forecast, ranked.
Thomas beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Thomas in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US boys given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- 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.
- Continuous documented use for two thousand years.
- 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.
- The very few girls given this spelling will be read as boys on every form.
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What they receive
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Thomas
Masculine · #34 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Thomass are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,497,000 people named Thomas are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Thomas in 2025?
- Thomas ranks #34 among US boy names in 2025, with 6,917 babies given the name.
- How common is the name Thomas?
- About 1 in every 247 US boys born in 2025 was named Thomas — 6,917 in all.
- Will my child share the name Thomas with classmates?
- Roughly 1 in 10 classrooms will have a child named Thomas.
Ranked beside Thomas
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
David#35 · Luke#33 · Matthew#32 · Jackson#36 · Owen#31 · Gabriel#37 · Alexander#30 · Wyatt#38
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Thomas? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Thomas and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration; international figures from national statistics agencies. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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