Tomas
Of Greek origin, meaning "twin" or "born second".
Name Census estimates that about 24,741 living Americans carry the first name Tomas. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tomas today is around 35 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tomas births was 2003 (537 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tomas. 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 Tomas with official rankings and popularity over time.
People living today
25K
~ 1 in 13,854 Americans
Peak year
2003
537 babies that year
Average age
35
years old
2024 SSA rank
#734
Tracked since 1880
Census
Tomas in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 43,589 people with the first name Tomas, which placed it at #987 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
#987
National first-name rank
People counted
44K
43,589 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
14.4
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
Hispanic or Latino
80.9% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tomas
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tomas is Hispanic at 80.9%. The next largest groups are White (14.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.2%). 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 Tomas 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 Tomas at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- Hispanic or Latino80.9% · 35,267
- White14.4% · 6,288
- Asian and Pacific Islander2.2% · 962
- Black or African American1.4% · 616
- Two or more races0.7% · 321
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.3% · 135
Gender
Gender distribution for Tomas
Out of the 30,335 babies given the name Tomas since 1880, 99.9% 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.
Tomas as a male name
- Ranked #734 in 2024
- 355 male births in 2024
- Peak: 2003 (537 births)
Tomas as a female name
- Ranked #15,613 in 1994
- 5 female births in 1994
- Peak: 1928 (6 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tomas appears almost entirely male. Of the 43,589 people counted with this name, 99.6% were male and only a very small share were female.
Popularity
Tomas: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tomas from the 1880s through to the 2020s, spanning 15 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 2000s, with 5,030 total registrations. Although the numbers have come down from the 2000s peak, Tomas remains solidly in use and shows no sign of disappearing from maternity wards.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tomas 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 Tomas during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tomas' live
The SSA's state-level files cover 39 states and territories. Texas, California, Florida recorded the most babies named Tomas, while Nebraska, Mississippi, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 645 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tomas
The name Tomas originated from the Aramaic name ת·אומא (Toma), which means "twin". It is derived from the Hebrew word תאום (tom), also meaning "twin". The name gained widespread popularity after being adopted as the Greek name Θωμάς (Thomas) in the New Testament of the Bible.
Tomas is the Spanish, Portuguese, and Dutch form of the name Thomas, which is derived from the Greek Θωμάς. It is also found in several other European languages, such as Czech, Polish, and Slovak. The name has been popular in Christian cultures for centuries due to its biblical origins.
One of the earliest recorded uses of the name Tomas dates back to the 12th century. Tomas Becket, also known as Saint Thomas Becket (1119-1170), was an English archbishop who was famously murdered by knights of King Henry II, leading to his canonization as a Catholic saint.
Another notable figure bearing the name Tomas was Tomas de Torquemada (1420-1498), the first Grand Inquisitor of the Spanish Inquisition. Although a controversial figure, he played a significant role in the history of the Spanish monarchy and the Catholic Church.
In the realm of literature, Tomas de la Tierra Caliente (1833-1888) was a renowned Mexican poet and playwright. His works celebrated Mexican culture and indigenous traditions, making him an important figure in the country's literary history.
Moving to the arts, Tomas Luis de Victoria (1548-1611) was a Spanish composer and a prominent figure in the Renaissance era of music. His compositions, particularly his sacred works, are highly regarded and have influenced generations of composers.
In more recent times, Tomas Tranströmer (1931-2015) was a Swedish poet and psychologist who received the Nobel Prize in Literature in 2011 for his condensed and lucid poetic works.
These are just a few examples of notable individuals who have borne the name Tomas throughout history, showcasing its enduring presence across various cultures, fields, and time periods.
Notable bearers
Famous people named Tomas
People
Tomas + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tomas 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
Tomas: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tomas?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 24,741 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tomas 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 13,854 US residents.
Is Tomas a common name?
We classify Tomas as "Uncommon". It ranks above 98.7% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 30,335 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tomas most popular?
The single biggest year for Tomas was 2003, when 537 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tomas is about 35 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tomas in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 43,589 people with the name Tomas, or 14.43 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #987 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 Tomas 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 Tomas?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tomas appears almost entirely male. Of the 43,589 people counted with this name, 99.6% 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 Tomas?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tomas is Hispanic at 80.9%. The next largest groups are White (14.4%) and Asian/Pacific Islander (2.2%). 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 Tomas most often in the Census?
Hispanic is the largest reported group for people named Tomas in the 2020 Census, accounting for 80.9% (35,267 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 Tomas in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tomas a male name?
Yes, 99.9% of people registered as Tomas 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 Tomas still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tomas 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 Tomas 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 Tomas?
For a quick modern estimate, our sister site HowManyOfMe.org answers that in one glance, with the living-bearer count front and centre.