Thomas

given name · Latin script

Recorded as a male name· opposite-gender records fall within measured source noise

Thomas is a given name written in the Latin script, with more bearers in China than in any other country. In Austria it is the 2nd most common given name. In English, recorded as from the biblical personal name Thomas, from Aramaic t’dm’a ‘twin’.

rarermore common
  • DEGermany≈1 in 80(inferred from the name graph)
  • ATAustria≈1 in 83
  • CHSwitzerland≈1 in 106

carrying the name, as counted by its national register where one exists and as Mondonomo estimates it elsewhere (marked ≈ and "est." on hover). Where a country counts another spelling of the name rather than Thomas itself, the figure is that spelling’s, and it is named. One hue, darker where it is more common; hover a country for its figure.

China (inferred from the name graph)

≈8,900,000 people, est.

#43 (measured from records)

of 15M given names

4 (measured from records)

recorded for this name

Sources
690 (measured from records)

Highest-authority source

≈1 in 80 (inferred from the name graph)

Germany, est.

measured from records inferred from the name graph

Name dossier (print, CSV)

Spellings & scripts(measured from records)

ThomasLatin(measured from records)
ԹովմասArmenian(measured from records)
토마스Hangul(measured from records)
థమసTelugu(measured from records)

Spellings marked ● are how people bearing the name write it in our records, and ○ marks a model's transliteration; click a spelling to open its page.

Meaning & origin(measured from records)

from the biblical personal name Thomas, from Aramaic t’dm’a ‘twin’

Sources 1

  • Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history]

Attested across 14 languages in the etymology graph.

How Thomas is read(measured from records)

Thomas 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.

  • English75%

    from the biblical personal name Thomas, from Aramaic t’dm’a ‘twin’

    as a nameEncyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history]

    Aramaic name meaning ‘twin’; first attested Thomas 1086

    as a nameA Dictionary of English Surnames

    From the personal name Thomas; earliest cited as thum, david ap thum (Caern. 1293).

    as a nameWelsh Surnames

  • German8.0%

    from Aramaic Teʾoma 'twin'; used in the phrase ungläubiger Thomas

    as a nameDeutsche Namenkunde: Unsere Familiennamen nach ihrer Entstehung und Bedeutung

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)

Thomas 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 Thomas is recorded, by country
CountryMost common spellingSources
CN China—≈8,900,000 est.≈1 in 156—Thomas114
US United States#131,506,6061 in 2211.5MThomas690
DE Germany#4≈1,000,000 est.≈1 in 80listedThomas395
GB United Kingdom#17≈430,000 est.≈1 in 152listedThomas443
CZ Czechia—363,852as Tomáš1 in 29364K—6
AT Austria#2≈110,000 est.≈1 in 8332KThomas243
CH Switzerland#4≈80,000 est.≈1 in 1062.6KThomas217
IE Ireland#9≈39,000 est.≈1 in 13375Thomas183

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; MVČR — living population register 2017; Statistik Austria — STATatlas Vornamen WFS (per-name time series 1984–2024); CSO — Irish Babies Names (1998–present); BFS — Familiennamen der Wohnbevölkerung (surnames). 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)

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

  • French given name18 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in France, United States, Belgium, United Kingdom

    Also written Thomàs, Thomás, T'Homas, Thômâs, Thömas

  • Spanish given name14 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in United States, Argentina, Brazil, Colombia

    Languages: Spanish, Portuguese

    Also written Thomás, Thomàs, Thómas, Thòmas, Thömas

  • a separate name11 spellings in the group

    Also written Thömas, Tho-Mas, Thōmas, Thomás̆, Thomàs

  • Hindi given name16 spellings in the group

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

    Languages: Hindi, Sinhala, Urdu

    Also written থমাস, Thomás, Thomãš, থোমস, Ťhómàš

  • a separate given name10 spellings in the group

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

    Also written Thomás, Thomās, Thōmäš, Tho̷ma̷s, Thomãs

  • Indonesian given name9 spellings in the group

    Most recorded in Indonesia, United States, Malaysia, India

    Languages: Indonesian, Malay

    Also written 'Thomas, Thomás, Thómas, Thömáš, Thömäš

147 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)

Thomas is also recorded in 2 other lexicons, as a different name or as an ordinary word. These are senses of the spelling, not of the name above.

  • The name Thomas, meaning 'twin,' is a classic and enduring name with deep historical roots. It belongs to the apostle known for his loyalty, thoughtful questioning, and ultimate declaration of profound faith. The name suggests a character that is both honest and devoted.

    as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database

  • The name 'Thomas' is the Greek form of the Aramaic name 'Te'oma' (תְּאוֹמָא), which means 'twin'. The New Testament also refers to him by the Greek equivalent, 'Didymus', which likewise means 'twin'.

    as a nameBiblical Names Compiled Database

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)

1700180019002000Thomas Paine, b. 1737Thomas Jefferson, b. 1743Thomas Malthus, b. 1766Thomas Carlyle, b. 1795Thomas Hardy, b. 1840Tennessee Williams, b. 1911Dale T. Mortensen, b. 1939Thomas J. Sargent, b. 1943Tom Clancy, b. 1947Evan Spiegel, b. 1990
  • Thomas Paineb. 1737USAmerican Founding Father, philosopher, and political activist (1737–1809)
  • Thomas Jeffersonb. 1743USFounding Father, U.S. president from 1801 to 1809 (1743–1826)
  • Thomas Malthusb. 1766GBBritish political economist (1766–1834)
  • Thomas Carlyleb. 1795GBScottish essayist, historian and philosopher (1795–1881)
  • Thomas Hardyb. 1840GBEnglish novelist and poet (1840–1928)
  • Tennessee Williamsb. 1911USnot in their usual nameAmerican playwright (1911–1983)
  • Dale T. Mortensenb. 1939USnot in their usual nameAmerican economist (1939–2014)
  • Thomas J. Sargentb. 1943USAmerican economist (born 1943)
  • Tom Clancyb. 1947USnot in their usual nameAmerican author (1947–2013)
  • Evan Spiegelb. 1990USnot in their usual nameAmerican businessman (born 1990)

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 203 sources across 98 countries.

Official registers attesting Thomas
CountryRegisterYearCountRank
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 20102010756K#16
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 20202020734K#16
US United StatesCensus Bureau — Surname Frequency 20002000711K#14
CH SwitzerlandBFS — Familiennamen der Wohnbevölkerung (surnames)20241.8K#567

Reference works 11

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

What does the name Thomas mean, and where does it come from?
from the biblical personal name Thomas, from Aramaic t’dm’a ‘twin’ Recorded by Encyclopedia of surnames [the complete companion to tracing your names history].
Is Thomas a male or female name?
Thomas is a male name in our records. Opposite-gender entries fall within the cross-gender noise we measure in the source data, so we don't report them as usage.
What are other forms of the name Thomas?
In the etymology graph, Tomas, Tomasz and Tomás are forms of the same name in other languages; Tom, Tommy and Tommie are recorded short or pet forms.
In which country does Thomas have the most bearers?
Mondonomo estimates about 8.9 million people named Thomas in China, more than in any other country we hold, where it is most often spelled thomas.
How common is the name Thomas?
In the United States, the national register counted 1,506,606 people named Thomas in 2020, about 1 in 221 residents.
How common is Thomas compared with other names?
In Austria, Thomas is the 2nd most common given name of 26,800 given names recorded there.

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Query this name via API
curl -H "X-API-Key: YOUR_KEY" https://api.mondonomo.ai/api/v1/name-graph/thomas

The same payload this page is built from: spellings and scripts, countries and languages, related names, and the registers that attest the form. It takes a free API key (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, “Thomas” — the 2nd most common given name in Austria. Data snapshot 2026-10-10.

See how Thomas parses inside a full name →