Thomas Surname

Meaning and origin of the surname Thomas

Patronymic and baptismal surname derived from the biblical Aramaic personal name Ta'oma (תָּאוֹמָא), meaning 'twin'.

Historically and linguistically, Thomas belongs to the Welsh and English family of surnames. It is conventionally pronounced "TOM-uhs".

United States Census frequency and ranking

In the official 2010 United States Census, Thomas was recorded 756,142 times, ranking as the 16th most common surname in the nation.

This represents an incidence rate of approximately 256.34 bearers per 100,000 Americans, or roughly 1 out of every 390 residents.

Race and ethnicity distribution

According to official decennial Census genealogy microdata, individuals bearing the surname Thomasreported the following racial and ethnic affiliations in the 2010 US Census:

Source: US Census Bureau, 2010 Census Surnames Data. Percentages may not sum to exactly 100% due to independent rounding or suppression of small cell counts for privacy protection.

History of the surname Thomas

Thomas originates as a patronymic or baptismal surname taken directly from the given name Thomas. The name traces to the Aramaic word ta'oma, meaning 'twin', which was translated into Greek as Didymos. In the New Testament, Saint Thomas (the 'Doubting Apostle') was one of the twelve disciples. The veneration of Saint Thomas Becket, the martyred Archbishop of Canterbury assassinated in 1170, sparked immense devotion across medieval Britain, making Thomas one of the most common masculine names.

In Wales, where fixed hereditary surnames developed relatively late through patronymic customs (ap Thomas, meaning 'son of Thomas'), the Anglicized patronymic Thomas became exceptionally widespread across Glamorgan, Carmarthenshire, and Pembrokeshire during the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. The name was also adopted widely by early British colonists arriving in Virginia, Maryland, and Massachusetts, as well as by Saint Thomas Christian families originating from Kerala, India.

In the 2010 United States Census, Thomas stood as the 16th most common surname in America, with 756,142 recorded bearers. Its demographic breakdown includes 53 percent identifying as White, 39 percent as Black or African American, and 2.4 percent as Asian or Pacific Islander, illustrating its profound cross-cultural presence in modern American society.

Notable people with the surname Thomas

• Thomas Jefferson (1743–1826), 3rd U.S. President and principal author of Declaration of Independence
• Thomas Edison (1847–1931), American inventor and businessman
• Thomas Hardy (1840–1928), English novelist and poet
• Thomas More (1478–1535), English lawyer, social philosopher, author of Utopia, and statesman