Thurmond
Masculine
The longest speech ever made by one senator in the American Senate lasted more than twenty-four hours and was made by a man called Thurmond, against a civil rights bill. He prepared by taking steam baths to dehydrate himself so that he could absorb liquid without needing to leave the floor.
How old is the name Thurmond?
Thurmond first appears in US birth records in 1909 — 116 years ago. The typical Thurmond alive today was born around 1946, making them about 79 years old. About 500 people named Thurmond are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Thurmond most popular?
Thurmond peaked in 1948, reaching #1323 nationally. See the whole 1948 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From an Old Norse name built on the god Thor to Thurmond
The story of Thurmond
He held the floor for twenty-four hours and eighteen minutes, reading the Declaration of Independence, the Bill of Rights and eventually his grandmother's biscuit recipe. The bill passed anyway. He ran for president on a segregationist ticket, stayed in the Senate for nearly half a century, changed party, and eventually moderated his public positions considerably. Six months after he died at a hundred, a retired schoolteacher in Los Angeles announced that she was his daughter, born to a sixteen-year-old who had worked in his parents' house, and his family confirmed it.
Meaningnot established
Not established
The likeliest source is an Old Norse name whose first element is the god Thor and whose second is about protection, carried into England by Scandinavian settlement and surviving as a surname. An English place-name route is also possible. This spelling ends in a d where the commoner one ends in an n, and the two are indistinguishable in ordinary speech.
How the name formed
- an Old Norse name built on the god Thor
- Scandinavian settlement carries it into English
- the surname survives long after the religion
- used as an American first name from the 1900s
- a senator makes it nationally known
Related forms: Thormundr · Thurman
Pronouncing Thurmond
THUR-mund
Two syllables, stress at the front. The final consonant is barely articulated, which is why this spelling and the one ending in n sound identical.
Nicknames for Thurmond
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
- 1909
- Most boys named
- 194830 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1323reached in 1948
- Change vs 1990
- 0.0%5 in 2016, 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.
Thurmond in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Thormundr in Old Norse — related form
- Thurman in English — spelling variant
Thurmonds among us
people named Thurmond 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
Thurmond 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
- It has a genuine Norse history behind it and a concrete meaning.
- The sound is plain and unfussy and suits a man as well as a boy.
- It is unrepeated — a boy carrying it will not meet another.
- The best-known bearer is a segregationist, and a search will find him first.
- Thurman is the commoner spelling and will be substituted.
- It is firmly of the early twentieth century and has had no revival.
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Thurmond
Masculine
Frequently asked
- How many Thurmonds are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 500 people named Thurmond are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How popular is the name Thurmond in 2025?
- Thurmond is rarely given in the US today — it does not rank in the top 2000 boy names.
- Will my child share the name Thurmond with classmates?
- Thurmond 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 Thurmond? See the current top 100.
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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