Thomas
A masculine name of Greek origin meaning "twin".
Roughly 1,548,322 people in the United States go by the first name Thomas, which ranks #39 nationally when sorted by estimated living bearers. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Thomas today is around 55 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Thomas births was 1952 (48,728 babies). In terms of living bearers, it sits close to Mary (1,492,757).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Thomas. 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.
For a British comparison, Name Census UK has a UK baby-name profile for Thomas with official rankings and popularity over time.
Key insights
- • Although Thomas is used almost entirely for boys, the SSA data does show 8,504 girls registered with the name since 1880.
People living today
1.5M
~ 1 in 221 Americans
Peak year
1952
48,728 babies that year
Average age
55
years old
2024 SSA rank
#39
Tracked since 1880
Census
Thomas in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 1,506,604 people with the first name Thomas, which placed it at #12 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
#12
National first-name rank
People counted
1.5M
1,506,604 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
498.8
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
87.0% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Thomas
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Thomas is White at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Black (4.7%) and Hispanic (3.9%). 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 Thomas 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 Thomas at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White87.0% · 1,310,638
- Black or African American4.7% · 70,115
- Hispanic or Latino3.9% · 58,403
- Two or more races2.3% · 35,273
- Asian and Pacific Islander1.7% · 24,934
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.5% · 7,241
Gender
Gender distribution for Thomas
Out of the 2,360,128 babies given the name Thomas since 1880, 99.6% were registered as male. The name sits firmly on the male side of the spectrum, with only a handful of female registrations across the entire dataset.
Thomas as a male name
- Ranked #39 in 2024
- 6,576 male births in 2024
- Peak: 1952 (48,650 births)
Thomas as a female name
- Ranked #17,412 in 2024
- 5 female births in 2024
- Peak: 1983 (147 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Thomas appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,506,606 people counted with this name, 99.9% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Thomas: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Thomas from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 455,339 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1950s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Thomas 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 Thomas during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
| Decade | Male | Female | Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1880s | 23,750 | 91 | 23,841 |
| 1890s | 21,115 | 123 | 21,238 |
| 1900s | 21,783 | 146 | 21,929 |
| 1910s | 91,619 | 444 | 92,063 |
| 1920s | 161,109 | 944 | 162,053 |
| 1930s | 183,873 | 832 | 184,705 |
| 1940s | 350,771 | 962 | 351,733 |
| 1950s | 454,385 | 954 | 455,339 |
| 1960s | 327,059 | 1,182 | 328,241 |
| 1970s | 186,766 | 1,117 | 187,883 |
| 1980s | 177,817 | 1,150 | 178,967 |
| 1990s | 146,634 | 286 | 146,920 |
| 2000s | 102,103 | 155 | 102,258 |
| 2010s | 70,010 | 83 | 70,093 |
| 2020s | 32,830 | 35 | 32,865 |
Geography
Where Thomas' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 51 states and territories. New York, Pennsylvania, California recorded the most babies named Thomas, while Alaska, Wyoming, Nevada recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 44,872 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Thomas
The name Thomas has its origins in the Aramaic language and is derived from the word "te'oma" which translates to "twin". It is believed that the name was first used during the early Christian era, around the 1st century AD, and was popularized by one of the twelve apostles of Jesus Christ, who was known as Thomas the Apostle or Doubting Thomas.
The name Thomas gained widespread use across the Middle East and Europe during the early years of Christianity. It became particularly popular in regions with significant Christian populations, such as the Roman Empire and the Byzantine Empire. The name was also adopted by various European cultures and languages, leading to slight variations in spelling and pronunciation, such as Tomás in Spanish, Tommaso in Italian, and Tuama in Irish.
One of the earliest recorded examples of the name Thomas can be found in the New Testament of the Bible, specifically in the Gospel of John, where Thomas the Apostle is mentioned. He is known for initially doubting the resurrection of Jesus Christ, leading to the phrase "Doubting Thomas".
Throughout history, there have been numerous notable individuals who bore the name Thomas. One of the most famous was St. Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), an Italian Dominican friar, philosopher, and theologian who is regarded as one of the most influential thinkers in the Catholic Church.
Another prominent figure was Thomas Becket (1118-1170), the Archbishop of Canterbury who was martyred after a conflict with King Henry II of England. His death led to his canonization as a saint, and he became an important figure in the Anglican and Catholic churches.
In the realm of literature, Thomas Malory (c. 1415-1471) was an English writer best known for his compilation of the Arthurian legends in the work "Le Morte d'Arthur".
One of the most renowned scientists in history was Thomas Edison (1847-1931), the American inventor and businessman who is credited with developing many devices, including the phonograph, the motion picture camera, and the long-lasting, practical electric light bulb.
Another notable figure was Thomas Jefferson (1743-1826), the third President of the United States, who played a pivotal role in the American Revolution and was the principal author of the Declaration of Independence.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Thomas
People
Thomas + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Thomas 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
Thomas: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Thomas?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 1,548,322 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Thomas 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 221 US residents.
Is Thomas a common name?
We classify Thomas as "Very Common". It ranks above 100% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 2,360,128 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Thomas most popular?
The single biggest year for Thomas was 1952, when 48,728 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Thomas is about 55 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Thomas in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 1,506,604 people with the name Thomas, or 498.83 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #12 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 Thomas 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 Thomas?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Thomas appears almost entirely male. Of the 1,506,606 people counted with this name, 99.9% 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 Thomas?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Thomas is White at 87.0%. The next largest groups are Black (4.7%) and Hispanic (3.9%). 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 Thomas most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Thomas in the 2020 Census, accounting for 87.0% (1,310,638 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 Thomas in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Thomas a male name?
Yes, 99.6% of people registered as Thomas 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 Thomas still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Thomas 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 Thomas 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 common is the name Thomas?
For a faster, more casual read, check HowManyOfMe.org — our sister site built around that single question.