Thurmond
Person from the village of Thur in England.
Name Census estimates that about 505 living Americans carry the first name Thurmond. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Thurmond today is around 66 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Thurmond births was 1948 (30 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Thurmond. 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.
Key insights
- • The typical person named Thurmond is about 66 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Thurmonds were born before 1970.
People living today
505
~ 1 in 678,721 Americans
Peak year
1948
30 babies that year
Average age
66
years old
2016 SSA rank
#13,992
Tracked since 1909
Popularity
Thurmond: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Thurmond from the 1900s through to the 2010s, spanning 12 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1950s, with 188 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
Thurmond 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 Thurmond during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Thurmonds live
The SSA's state-level files cover 4 states and territories. South Carolina, Georgia, North Carolina recorded the most babies named Thurmond, while West Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 48 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Thurmond
The name Thurmond has its roots in the Old English language, originating from the Anglo-Saxon era in Britain during the 5th to 11th centuries AD. It is believed to be derived from the Old English words "þunor" meaning "thunder" and "mund" meaning "protection" or "hand." The name can be translated to mean "protector from thunder" or "hand of thunder."
The earliest recorded instances of the name Thurmond can be traced back to the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle, a collection of annals narrating the history of the Anglo-Saxons. The name appears in various spellings, such as "Þurmundes" and "Þurmundus," indicating its long-standing presence in the English language.
One of the earliest notable individuals with the name Thurmond was Thurmond of Oakwood, a 9th-century Anglo-Saxon nobleman who served as a trusted advisor to King Alfred the Great. His legacy is recorded in the Vita Ælfredi, a biographical account of King Alfred's life and reign.
During the Middle Ages, the name Thurmond gained popularity among the English nobility. Sir Thurmond de Warwick, a 12th-century knight and landowner, was a prominent figure in the court of King Henry II. His name is documented in the Pipe Rolls, which were financial records maintained by the English Exchequer.
In the 16th century, Thurmond Shakespeare, a distant relative of the renowned playwright William Shakespeare, was mentioned in parish records as a respected member of the community in Stratford-upon-Avon.
Another historical figure bearing the name Thurmond was Captain Thurmond Cartwright, an English explorer who embarked on several voyages to the West Indies in the early 17th century. His accounts of these expeditions were published in a book titled "The Voyages of Captain Thurmond Cartwright."
During the American Revolutionary War, Colonel Thurmond Blackwood served as a prominent military leader in the Continental Army. His bravery and strategic leadership were documented in various historical records and accounts of the war.
Although the name Thurmond has fallen into relative obscurity in modern times, its deep-rooted origins and historical significance in the English language and culture make it a fascinating subject for study in the field of onomatology.
People
Thurmond + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Thurmond 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
Thurmond: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Thurmond?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 505 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Thurmond 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 678,721 US residents.
Is Thurmond a common name?
We classify Thurmond as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.6% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,002 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Thurmond most popular?
The single biggest year for Thurmond was 1948, when 30 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Thurmond is about 66 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
Is Thurmond a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Thurmond 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.
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.