Thomas Carter
There are approximately 1,979 people named Thomas Carter living in the United States today. That makes this name combination rare, occurring at a rate of about 1 in 173,196 Americans.
This estimate combines SSA birth records for the first name Thomas with Census Bureau frequency data for the surname Carter. Below you will find a breakdown of both names, including popularity trends, gender data, and ancestry information.
Expected bearers
1,979
1 in 173,196
Named Thomas
1.5M
Alive today
Named Carter
438K
Alive today
US population
343M
Denominator
Estimated living: 1.5M
Rarity: Very Common
Gender: Male
Peak year: 1952
Average age: 55
Estimated bearers: 438K
Rarity: Common
Census rank: #49
Per 100K: 127.79
Top ancestry: White (58.2%)
First name trend
Thomas: popularity over time
Year-by-year SSA birth registrations for the first name Thomas. The peak year was 1952 with 48,728 births. The average person named Thomas today is 55 years old.
Babies born per year
Ethnicity
Ancestry of the Carter surname
Self-reported race and ethnicity breakdown for people with the surname Carter, from the 2010 US Census Bureau. The largest group is White at 58.2%.
- White58.2%
- Black or African American35.6%
- Two or more races2.6%
- Hispanic or Latino2.3%
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8%
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.5%
Methodology
How we calculated this
The first name Thomas has a living-bearer frequency of 0.4517% of the US population, based on 1,548,322 estimated living Americans carrying this first name (from SSA birth records going back to 1880, adjusted for mortality using CDC life tables).
The surname Carter appears at a rate of 127.79 per 100,000 residents in the 2010 Census Bureau surname file, which translates to a frequency of 0.1278%.
Multiplying these two independent frequencies against the current US population of 342,754,338 gives an expected count of approximately 1,979 people with the full name Thomas Carter. This assumes statistical independence between first and last names, which is a simplification but produces reasonable estimates for most combinations.
Related
Other people named Thomas
Related
Other people with the surname Carter
FAQ
Thomas Carter: questions and answers
How many people are named Thomas Carter?
We estimate approximately 1,979 people in the United States share the full name Thomas Carter. That works out to about 1 in 173,196 Americans. This is calculated by combining the first-name frequency (0.4517%) with the surname frequency (127.79 per 100K) against the current US population.
How rare is the name Thomas Carter?
We classify Thomas Carter as "Rare". About 1 in 173,196 Americans share this exact first and last name combination.
Is Thomas a male or female name?
Thomas is predominantly male. Out of 2,360,128 total SSA registrations, 99.6% were male and 0.4% were female. See the full Thomas profile for detailed gender data.
Where does this data come from?
First-name data comes from the Social Security Administration's national baby name files (1880 to 2024). Surname data comes from the 2010 US Census Bureau decennial surname tables. Living-bearer estimates use CDC actuarial life tables to adjust for mortality. Read the full methodology.