Thoms
A masculine given name of Anglo-Saxon origin meaning "twin".
Name Census estimates that about 180 living Americans carry the first name Thoms. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Thoms today is around 56 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Thoms births was 1969 (11 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Thoms. Below you will find a gender breakdown showing how the name splits between male and female registrations, a year-by-year popularity chart stretching back to 1880, decade-level totals, the top US states for this name, its meaning and etymology, and a set of frequently asked questions with data-backed answers.
People living today
180
~ 1 in 1,904,191 Americans
Peak year
1969
11 babies that year
Average age
56
years old
1988 SSA rank
#7,176
Tracked since 1943
Census
Thoms in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 494 people with the first name Thoms, which placed it at #20,791 in the published first-name tables. This is a snapshot of people who already had the name at the time of the Census.
The SSA sections elsewhere on this page answer a different question: how often parents gave the name to babies over time. The "people living today" figure on this page is different again: it is a current estimate built from SSA birth records and age-based survival rates, so the two numbers are not expected to match exactly.
2020 Census rank
#20,791
National first-name rank
People counted
494
494 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.2
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Thoms
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Thoms is White at 87.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.8%) and Black (3.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself.
The bar chart below shows how people with the first name Thoms described their own race and ethnicity on the 2020 Census form. The Census Bureau groups responses into six broad categories: White, Black or African American, Hispanic or Latino, Asian and Pacific Islander, American Indian and Alaska Native, and Two or More Races. When a category has too few respondents for a given name, the Bureau suppresses the figure to protect individual privacy, which is why some names show fewer than six slices.
Percentages are shown so the breakdown is easy to read across every published category. Because the 2020 Census first-name file also includes raw headcounts for each group, Name Census can show those alongside the percentages in the legend and hover tooltip.
Keep in mind that these are self-reported numbers. A first name does not determine a person's race or ethnicity, and the distribution you see here reflects the specific population who happened to carry the name Thoms at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.2% · 431
- Hispanic or Latino3.8% · 19
- Black or African American3.4% · 17
- Two or more races2.4% · 12
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 11
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 4
Popularity
Thoms: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Thoms from the 1940s through to the 1980s, spanning 5 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1960s, with 59 total registrations. The name continues to be given at rates close to its all-time high, suggesting it has not yet fallen out of fashion.
Babies born per year
Decades
Thoms by decade
The table below breaks the full SSA timeline into ten-year windows. Each row shows how many male and female babies were given the name Thoms during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Thoms
The name Thoms is believed to have originated from the Germanic language family, possibly deriving from an Old English or Old Norse word related to "twin" or "double." The earliest recorded use of the name can be traced back to the 9th century in England and Scandinavia.
One theory suggests that the name Thoms may have been derived from the Old English word "twam," meaning "between two" or "in the middle." This could indicate that the name was initially given to a child born between two other siblings or as a middle child.
Another possible origin is the Old Norse word "tveir," which means "two" or "a pair." In Norse mythology, there are references to twins or dual beings, and the name Thoms might have been associated with such concepts.
In the 11th century, a monk named Thoms of Bayeux was recorded as a scribe and chronicler in Normandy, France. He is believed to be one of the earliest known individuals with the name Thoms.
During the medieval period, a notable figure named Thoms Becket (1118-1170) was the Archbishop of Canterbury and a renowned English cleric. He played a significant role in the conflicts between church and state during the reign of King Henry II.
In the 16th century, Thoms More (1478-1535) was an English lawyer, scholar, and renowned Renaissance humanist. He served as Lord Chancellor of England and is remembered for his moral opposition to the Protestant Reformation and his eventual martyrdom.
Another historical figure with the name Thoms was Thoms Hobbes (1588-1679), an English philosopher and political theorist. He is best known for his influential works, including "Leviathan," which explored concepts of social contract theory and the nature of government.
In the 19th century, Thoms Edison (1847-1931) was an American inventor and businessman who significantly impacted the development of modern technology. He is credited with numerous groundbreaking inventions, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and the long-lasting electric light bulb.
While the name Thoms has been historically more common in England and parts of Northern Europe, it has also been used in other regions and cultures over time, potentially with variations in spelling or pronunciation.
People
Thoms + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Thoms as the first name? Click a combination below to see the estimate, or search any pairing.
Related
Other names starting with T
Other first names starting with T with a similar number of bearers.
FAQ
Thoms: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Thoms?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 180 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Thoms going back to 1880 and adjusting each cohort for expected survival using CDC actuarial life tables. The result is an age-weighted living-bearer count, not a raw birth total. That works out to about 1 in 1,904,191 US residents.
Is Thoms a common name?
We classify Thoms as "Very Rare". It ranks above 72.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 210 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Thoms most popular?
The single biggest year for Thoms was 1969, when 11 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Thoms is about 56 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Thoms in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 494 people with the name Thoms, or 0.16 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #20,791 in the national Census ranking for first names.
Why is the Census count different from the living estimate?
Because they measure different things. The Census figure is a count of people who had the name Thoms in 2020. The living estimate aims to answer a current question instead: how many people with the name are alive today, based on SSA birth records and age-based survival rates. Since one number is a 2020 snapshot and the other is a present-day estimate, they are not expected to be identical.
What does the Census say about the gender split for Thoms?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Thoms appears almost entirely male. Of the 492 people counted with this name, 100.0% were male and only a very small share were female. The Census view is a snapshot of people living with the name in 2020, while the SSA section above tracks births across time.
What does the Census say about the background of people named Thoms?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Thoms is White at 87.2%. The next largest groups are Hispanic (3.8%) and Black (3.4%). These figures describe the people who had the name in 2020, not any inherent property of the name itself. The percentages in the chart above come from self-reported race and Hispanic-origin responses in the 2020 Census.
Which group reports the name Thoms most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Thoms in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.2% (431 people in the published table).
Why can the Census sex total and race total differ slightly?
The Census Bureau published separate 2020 tables for sex and for race/Hispanic origin, and the released figures can differ slightly because of privacy protection in the public files. That is why this page treats the gender section and the race/origin section as two related snapshots instead of forcing them into one identical total.
Does every first name have Census demographic data?
No. The public Census first-name release only includes names that met the Bureau's publication rules, so many rarer names in the SSA files have no Census demographic snapshot. When that happens, the SSA trend, gender history, and state sections still appear, but the 2020 Census demographic sections are omitted.
What does the SSA popularity chart show?
The chart tracks births, not the number of people alive with the name today. Each point shows how many babies were given the name Thoms in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Thoms a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Thoms in the SSA data are male. You can see the full per-sex comparison in the gender distribution section above, which includes the latest year rank, birth count, and peak year for each sex.
Is Thoms still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Thoms in 2024, and the page above shows its latest-year rank where available. A name can be well past its peak and still remain in steady use, especially if it built up a large population over earlier decades.
Why can a name have a lot of living bearers even if it is not trendy now?
Because living-bearer counts and current baby-name popularity measure different things. A name like Thoms can build up a very large population over many decades, even if fewer parents are choosing it now than they did at its peak.
Where does this data come from?
First-name figures come from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files, which cover every name on a birth certificate from 1880 to 2024. Living-bearer estimates layer in CDC actuarial life tables broken out by sex to account for mortality. The population baseline (342,754,338) is the Census Bureau's latest national estimate. You can read the full calculation on our methodology page.
How many people are named Thoms?
Find out how many Americans are named Thoms on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — a quick modern estimate with the living-bearer count front and centre.