Tam

given name · Latin script

Recorded for both men and women· direction only, no split published

Tam is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in Vietnam than in any other country. In Vietnamese, recorded as younger sibling.

rarermore common
  • HKHong Kong≈1 in 1.4K(inferred from the name graph)
  • MYMalaysia≈1 in 10K
  • AUAustralia≈1 in 11K

carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.

Vietnam (inferred from the name graph)

≈350,000 people, est.

Sources
417 (measured from records)

Highest-authority source

≈1 in 284 (inferred from the name graph)

Vietnam, est.

measured from records inferred from the name graph

Name dossier (print, CSV)

Spellings & scripts(measured from records)

Locally spelled Tâm in VN Vietnam.

Meaning & origin(measured from records)

Clipping of tam o'shanter, a type of cap.

Sources 1

  • kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

Attested across 22 languages in the etymology graph.

How Tam is read(measured from records)

Tam is one spelling over 2 language communities, and the dictionaries record it differently in 2 of them. Each row is what a source recorded for that language, beside the share of this name’s records the language holds. No single row is the name’s meaning.

  • Vietnamese48%

    younger sibling

    as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

  • English37%

    Clipping of tam o'shanter, a type of cap.

    as a wordkaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations)

The share is ours — how much of this name’s records each language holds. The sense beside it is the source’s, quoted and credited, including where it names a gender. We do not publish a gender of our own per language: our records carry one figure for the spelling as a whole.

Where in the world(measured from records)

Tam counted together with the spellings and other-language forms grouped with it. Where a register counted another spelling, the row names it.

Sorted by bearers: national registers' counts, and Mondonomo's estimates (≈, est.) where no register counts.

Where Tam is recorded, by country
CountryMost common spellingSources
VN Vietnam—≈350,000 est.≈1 in 284listedTâm4
CN China—≈190,000 est.≈1 in 7.3K—Tam62
US United States—12,3081 in 27K13KTam417
HK Hong Kong#215≈5,000 est.≈1 in 1.4K—Tam122
GB United Kingdom—≈4,800 est.≈1 in 14KlistedTam155
MY Malaysia—≈3,200 est.≈1 in 10K—Tam76
AU Australia#933≈2,300 est.≈1 in 11K3Tam167

Exact figures are national registers' own counts, while figures marked ≈ and est. are Mondonomo’s estimates, counted from our sources and calibrated against those registers; hover one for how far to trust it in that country. A dash means neither exists.

Registers cited: Census Bureau — First Name Frequency 2020 by sex; Census Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010; Australian national given names (aggregated state BDM). Figures without a register are Mondonomo estimates; see Methodology.

Country figures for a list of names, at full precision, are available under licence rather than by scraping this table (how that works).

Other names spelled this way(inferred from the name graph)

Tam is also recorded as 6 other names, grouped separately because the records behind them do not connect to the one described above.

  • Vietnamese given name16 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Vietnam, United States, Canada, United Kingdom

    Also written Tâm, Tám, Tấm, Tầm, Tằm

  • a separate given name32 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in United States, India, United Kingdom, Malaysia

    Also written Tâm, Tám, Tàm, Tặm, Tām

  • a separate name5 spellings in the group

    Also written Tám, Tà̂m, Tâm, Tām

  • Hindi given name11 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in India, United States, Malaysia, United Kingdom

    Languages: Hindi, Urdu

    Also written Tâm, Tấm, Tám, Ťäm, Täm

  • French given name11 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in France, United States, Canada, Belgium

    Also written Tâm, Tàm, Tãm, Tām, Tám

  • Hindi given name52 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in India, United States, Indonesia, Georgia

    Languages: Hindi, Bangla, Indonesian

    Also written Tamu, Tome, Tumu, টম, Tamo

72 further groups record this spelling and are not listed here.

Grouping is the name graph's, not a register's: two spellings join a group when the evidence links them, so a group is a claim about the records rather than about the people.

Other recorded senses(measured from records)

Tam is also recorded in 4 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

  • .““ Tam B là ba. Không có biểu hiện A theo nghĩa số lượng, có thể có biểu hiện theo nghĩa trật tự:

    as a nameMẹo giải nghĩa từ Hán Việt và chữa lỗi chính tả

  • Plg. Tamošiūnas (žr.)

    as a nameLietuvių pavardžių žodynas (Dictionary of Lithuanian Surnames)

  • Scottish short form of )\Thomas.

    as a nameA concise dictionary of first names

  • In cau-lzg-pro, 1 vein 2 sinew, tendon 3 cramp 4 tenacity 5 power

    as a wordStarLing Tower of Babel etymological databases (Starostin et al.)

Ordered by how much of this spelling's record each language holds, so a sense from a language the name is barely used in sits last rather than first.

Notable people with this name(measured from records)

1700180019002000Prince Sanggye, b. 1769Nhất Linh, b. 1906Tam Galbraith, b. 1917Tam Dalyell, b. 1932Tam Paton, b. 1938Tam White, b. 1942Tam O'Shaughnessy, b. 1952Mỹ Tâm, b. 1981Tam Courts, b. 1981Tam Nakano, b. 1988
  • Prince Sanggyeb. 1769not in their usual nameKorean prince (1769–1786)
  • Nhất Linhb. 1906VNnot in their usual nameVietnamese writer (1906-1963)
  • Tam Galbraithb. 1917GBScottish politician (1917-1982)
  • Tam Dalyellb. 1932GBScottish politician (1932-2017)
  • Tam Patonb. 1938GBBritish businessman (1938-2009)
  • Tam Whiteb. 1942GBScottish singer-actor (1942-2010)
  • Tam O'Shaughnessyb. 1952USAmerican educator, children's science writer, professional tennis player
  • Mỹ Tâmb. 1981VNVietnamese singer-songwriter
  • Tam Courtsb. 1981GBScottish footballer and manager (born 1981)
  • Tam Nakanob. 1988JPJapanese professional wrestler

The ten people covered by the most Wikipedia language editions — a proxy for cross-cultural notability, which favours historical and Western figures over equally prominent contemporary ones — shown by birth year. Source: Wikidata (CC0).

Evidence(measured from records)

Attested in 64 sources across 27 countries.

Official registers attesting Tam
CountryRegisterYearCountRank
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 2010201013K#2,703
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 2020202013K#2,659
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 2000200012K#2,723

Reference works 12

These works list the name; their figures are licensed and are not reproduced here.

Register rows as of the 2026-10-09 data build.

Frequently asked questions

Where does the name Tam come from?
Clipping of tam o'shanter, a type of cap. Recorded by kaikki.org Wiktionary extract (IPA + transliterations).
Is Tam a male or female name?
Tam is recorded for both men and women. We don't publish a percentage split: a record's gender belongs to the person and is attached to every given name on that record, so names in cultures where a name string also carries a parent's or spouse's given name pick up large cross-gender counts.
In which country does Tam have the most bearers?
Mondonomo estimates about 347 thousand people named Tam in Vietnam, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled tâm.
What does the name Tam mean?
In Vietnamese, younger sibling
What are other forms of the name Tam?
In the etymology graph, Tommy, Tommie and Tomi are forms of the same name in other languages.
How common is the name Tam?
In the United States, the national register counted 12,308 people named Tam in 2020, about 1 in 27 thousand residents.
How common is Tam compared with other names?
In Hong Kong, Tam is the 215th most common given name of 23,276 given names recorded there.

What do you want to know about Tam?

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Query this name via API
curl https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/tam

The same payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. Rate-limited for casual use; a free API key gives 1,000 requests a day, and bulk access is licensed separately.

About this data

measured from records inferred from the name graph machine-generated

These figures come from the data snapshot of and will change as it is rebuilt.

Statistics are aggregated from the Mondonomo name corpus; related names and etymology are inferred from the name graph; pronunciation and any machine-marked transliterations are model-generated. Read how the numbers are made, including their known failure modes, and where the data comes from.

Reference works we consult — surname dictionaries, official name registers, Wikidata and Wiktionary — are named directly, beside the claims they support. The per-country source counts also include datasets of person records: we publish how many there are and their authority tier, but not their names.

Cite this page Mondonomo, “Tam” — the 215th most common given name in Hong Kong. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.

See how Tam parses inside a full name →