Tomi
Feminine · “twin”
Tomi is given to both — 2,812 girls and 136 boys since 1880. See other names given to both
Tomi on a girl belongs to a distinct mid-century American fashion: boys' short forms used as girls' names, and spelled with an -i to mark the difference. Bobbie, Billie, Jackie, Frankie, Toni and Tomi all belong to it, and its American peak here is 1953, at the center of that period.
How old is the name Tomi?
Tomi first appears in US birth records in 1916 — 109 years ago. The typical Tomi alive today was born around 1976, making them about 49 years old. About 2,500 people named Tomi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tomi most popular?
Tomi peaked in 1953, reaching #1389 nationally. Today it ranks #5917, 4,528 places below that high. See the whole 1953 chart.
Lists built from the same records:
Where it comes from
From te'oma to Tomi
The story of Tomi
For about thirty years either side of 1950, American naming did something it had never done before and has not done since at that scale: it gave girls the short forms of men's names, with a spelling change to mark them. Roberta became Bobbie, Frances became Frankie, Antonia became Toni, Wilhelmina became Billie, and Thomasina became Tomi. The -i and -ie endings did the distinguishing work that the -a endings had done in earlier generations. The fashion was strongest in the 1940s and 1950s and faded quickly afterwards, and it left a cohort of American women whose names read as masculine to anyone born after 1970.
Meaningscholars disagree
twin, through Thomas
The likeliest route is through Thomas, from Aramaic te'oma, 'twin' — the apostle is called Didymus in Greek, which means the same thing. The feminine Thomasina and Tomasina were used in English from the medieval period and produce Tommy and Tomi. Two other routes exist: Japanese Tomi is a genuine and unrelated name, and Yoruba Tomi is a short form of longer names such as Oluwatomisin. A given Tomi may descend from any of these.
How the name formed
- te'oma
- Thomas
- Thomasina
- Tomi
Related forms: Tommie · Tomi · Tomi
Pronouncing Tomi
TOM-ee
Two syllables, stress on the first, with the short o of Tom. Identical to Tommy. Japanese Tomi is said with the same syllables but with a lighter, unstressed second one.
Nicknames for Tomi
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
- 1916
- Most girls named
- 197054 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1389reached in 1953
- Change vs 2023
- −16.7%20 in 2025, from 24
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.
Tomi in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tommie in English — spelling variant
- Tomi in Japanese — same name
- Tomi in Yoruba — same name
Tomis among us
people named Tomi are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 80,363 born in 2025 was named Tomi
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Tomi
- #5917
- Tomi on the 2025 chart
- #870
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Tomi went to 20 girls in 2025, but Tommi and Tommy are the same name said out loud. Together the 3 spellings went to 90, which makes it the 870th most-given girls’ name of the year — 5,047 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 17,859 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 80,363 for Tomi itself.
Spellings are grouped by a fixed rule that folds interchangeable English spellings of one sound (ck/k, ph/f, x/ks, a non-initial y for i) and keeps vowels apart, so Sean and Shawn stay separate names. It errs towards splitting: a family here is never larger than the truth. SSA national data, 2025. Method
Is it right for you
What happens to a name after it peaks
The Clarene test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tomi's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Clarene climbed just as high around 1937, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Clarene's path sketches the road Tomi is walking now.
Tomi 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.
A scored estimate from 146 years of naming cycles — not a prophecy. Great names outlive statistics. How this is scored
Tomi beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tomi in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- It is short, warm and instantly familiar without being common.
- Thomasina is available as a longer, formal version if one is wanted.
- It has genuine and separate traditions in English, Japanese and Yoruba use.
- It reads as a boy's short form to anyone born after about 1970.
- Tomi, Tommie and Tommy all circulate and will be confused.
- Its American curve is tightly mid-century, which dates a bearer closely.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Tomi
Feminine · #5917 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tomis are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 2,500 people named Tomi are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Tomi?
- Tomi is one of 3 recorded spellings. Tommi is the more common one — 35 births in 2025 against 20 for Tomi.
- How popular is the name Tomi in 2025?
- Tomi ranks #5917 among US girl names in 2025, with 20 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tomi?
- About 1 in every 80,363 US girls born in 2025 was named Tomi — 20 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tomi with classmates?
- Tomi will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tomi
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Elda#5917 · Saloma#5917 · Fawn#5917 · Sarafina#5917 · Jaymie#5917 · Jania#5917 · Kimberlynn#5917 · Patsy#5917
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tomi? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tomi and another name?
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US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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