Tome
A masculine name of uncertain origin, potentially derived from Spanish for "volume" or Latin for "tome".
Name Census estimates that about 9 living Americans carry the first name Tome. The name is used almost exclusively for boys. The average person named Tome today is around 73 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tome births was 1919 (10 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tome. 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 Tome is about 73 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Tomes were born before 1963.
- • Fewer than 100 living Americans are believed to carry the name Tome. It is among the rarest names in the SSA records.
People living today
9
~ 1 in 38,083,815 Americans
Peak year
1919
10 babies that year
Average age
73
years old
1972 SSA rank
#5,689
Tracked since 1915
Census
Tome in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 274 people with the first name Tome, which placed it at #31,306 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
#31,306
National first-name rank
People counted
274
274 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.1
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
67.2% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tome
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tome is White at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (12.4%) and Black (10.9%). 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 Tome 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 Tome at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White67.2% · 184
- Asian and Pacific Islander12.4% · 34
- Black or African American10.9% · 30
- Hispanic or Latino5.5% · 15
- Two or more races2.2% · 6
- American Indian and Alaska Native1.8% · 5
Popularity
Tome: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tome from the 1910s through to the 1970s, spanning 4 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1910s, with 26 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1910s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tome 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 Tome during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tome
The name Tome is a variant spelling of the English name Tom, which is derived from the medieval name Thomas. Thomas originated from the Aramaic name Te'oma, meaning "twin." It gained popularity after being adopted as the name of one of the twelve apostles in the New Testament.
Records of the spelling Tome date back to the late 16th century, when it was used as an anglicized form of the French name Thomas. It was particularly common among English Puritans, who favored biblical names with simple spellings. The earliest known bearer of the name Tome was Tome Crosby, an English Puritan who was born in 1590 and settled in Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1635.
One of the most notable figures named Tome was Tome Paine, the English-born American political philosopher and revolutionary (1737-1809). His influential writings, such as "Common Sense" and "The Rights of Man," played a pivotal role in inspiring the American and French Revolutions.
Another historical figure with the name Tome was Tome More (1478-1535), the English Renaissance humanist, lawyer, and Lord Chancellor of England. He is remembered for his moral integrity and his work "Utopia," which coined the word and concept of a utopian society.
In literature, Tome Jones is the titular character of Henry Fielding's novel "The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling," published in 1749. This satirical work is considered one of the foundational texts of the English novel genre.
In the realm of music, Tome Waits (born 1949) is an American singer-songwriter and actor known for his distinctive gravelly voice and poetic lyrics. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the late 20th century.
While the spelling Tome is relatively uncommon today, it has left its mark on history through these notable individuals and works of art, reflecting the enduring influence of this variant form of the classic name Thomas.
People
Tome + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tome 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
Tome: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tome?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 9 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tome 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 38,083,815 US residents.
Is Tome a common name?
We classify Tome as "Very Rare". It ranks above 25.5% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 68 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tome most popular?
The single biggest year for Tome was 1919, when 10 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tome is about 73 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tome in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 274 people with the name Tome, or 0.09 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #31,306 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 Tome 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 Tome?
The 2020 Census sex table shows Tome on both sides of the split. Of the 274 people counted with this name, 208 were male (75.9%) and 66 were female (24.1%). 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 Tome?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tome is White at 67.2%. The next largest groups are Asian/Pacific Islander (12.4%) and Black (10.9%). 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 Tome most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tome in the 2020 Census, accounting for 67.2% (184 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 Tome in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tome a male name?
Yes, 100.0% of people registered as Tome 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 Tome still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tome 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 Tome 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 many people have the name Tome?
If you just want to know how many people have the name Tome, HowManyOfMe.org gives you the headline number in one glance.