Tommy
Feminine · “twin”
Tommy is given to boys far more often — 178,733 boys against 2,942 girls since 1880. See Tommy as a boy name
Tommy for a girl belongs to a specific American moment — the 1920s and 1930s, when women were given men's nicknames as full legal names in real numbers.
How old is the name Tommy?
Tommy first appears in US birth records in 1895 — 130 years ago. The typical Tommy alive today was born around 1954, making them about 71 years old. About 1,800 people named Tommy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
When was the name Tommy most popular?
Tommy peaked in 1928, reaching #1029 nationally. Today it ranks #4067, 3,038 places below that high. See the whole 1928 chart.
Where it comes from
Origin, sound and short forms
Our story of Tommy
Ours, offered as ours. The wave of women called Tommy, Billie, Jackie, Frankie and Bobbie in American records peaks between the wars, and it lines up with a broader shift — women in trousers, women in offices, women voting. Naming a daughter Tommy was a small public statement, and thousands of families made it. The name faded after the 1950s and its record is a fairly precise index of that period.
Meaning
twin
From Aramaic te'oma, a twin, through Greek Thomas; the medieval feminine Thomasina is the formal parent. The Gospel of John gives the Greek translation alongside the Aramaic, so the meaning is supplied by the text.
Pronouncing Tommy
TOM-ee
Two syllables, first stressed. There is no variation in English.
Nicknames for Tommy
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
- 1895
- Most girls named
- 196962 — the highest on record
- Peak rank
- #1029reached in 1928
- Change vs 2023
- +75.0%35 in 2025, from 20
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.
Tommy in other languages
The same name elsewhere
- Tommi in English — spelling variant
- Thomasina in English — related form
- Tamsin in Cornish — related form
Strongest US states over the last decade: Utah, California.
Tommys among us
people named Tommy are estimated to be alive in the US today
About 1 girl in 45,922 born in 2025 was named Tommy
Estimated from SSA birth records and published actuarial life tables. Method
Spellings of Tommy
- #4067
- Tommy on the 2025 chart
- #870
- counting every spelling
The SSA counts spellings, not names. Tommy went to 35 girls in 2025, but Tommi and Tomi 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 — 3,197 places above the chart.
About 1 girl in 17,859 born in 2025 was given one of these spellings — against 1 in 45,922 for Tommy 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 Willetta test
Every popular name lives one long story — a climb, a peak, a slow settling back. Tommy's later chapters haven't been written yet, so we borrowed them: Willetta climbed just as high around 1911, and its whole arc is on record. Line the two peaks up, and Willetta's path sketches the road Tommy is walking now.
Tommy 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
Where Tommy is headed
Tommy is on a steep climb — if the curve holds, 2030 could see around 63% more babies given the name than today. Its history is short or jumpy, though, so read this as a sketch rather than a promise.
Low 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.
Tommy beside its neighbors
The names ranked closest to Tommy in 2025, in babies rather than position — the bars are to scale.
US girls given each name in 2025.
The trade-off
- A settled meaning inherited from a very well-documented name.
- Thomasina and Tamsin both stand behind it as fuller formal options.
- Genuine and substantial early twentieth-century American use for women.
- It is overwhelmingly a men's name now and she will correct assumptions.
- It reads as a nickname, which may matter on a formal document.
- Tommy and Tommi are both in use and neither is dominant for women.
Nobody names a baby alone.
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What they receive
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Tommy
Feminine · #4067 in the U.S.
Frequently asked
- How many Tommys are there in the world?
- No country counts the world's names, so there is no worldwide figure — anyone quoting one is estimating. About 1,800 people named Tommy are estimated to be alive in the US today.
- How do you spell Tommy?
- Tommy is one of 3 recorded spellings. Tommi is the more common one — 35 births in 2025 against 35 for Tommy.
- How popular is the name Tommy in 2025?
- Tommy ranks #4067 among US girl names in 2025, with 35 babies given the name.
- How rare is the name Tommy?
- About 1 in every 45,922 US girls born in 2025 was named Tommy — 35 in all.
- Will my child share the name Tommy with classmates?
- Tommy will almost certainly be the only one in school.
Ranked beside Tommy
Names sitting at a similar level of popularity right now.
Eli#4067 · Peace#4067 · Medina#4067 · Darlin#4067 · Anja#4067 · Sparrow#4067 · Liani#4067 · Salina#4067
Looking for what else is popular rather than what resembles Tommy? See the current top 100.
Choosing between Tommy and another name?
See them side by side — full stats, history and a gentle verdict.
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Cast your vote
Which one would you pick?
Your gut first, the numbers after — the split shows once you pick.
US figures from the Social Security Administration. 1880–2025. Data & methodology
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