Tommye
A masculine form of the name Thomas, of Greek origin meaning "twin".
Name Census estimates that about 512 living Americans carry the first name Tommye. It is a predominantly female name (96.6% of registrations). The average person named Tommye today is around 76 years old, and the year with the single highest number of Tommye births was 1942 (51 babies).
This page is the full Name Census profile for Tommye. 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
- • Although Tommye is used almost entirely for girls, the SSA data does show 52 boys registered with the name since 1880.
- • The typical person named Tommye is about 76 years old today, placing it firmly among the names of earlier generations. Most living Tommyes were born before 1960.
People living today
512
~ 1 in 669,442 Americans
Peak year
1942
51 babies that year
Average age
76
years old
1979 SSA rank
#6,994
Tracked since 1902
Census
Tommye in the 2020 Census
The 2020 Census recorded 842 people with the first name Tommye, which placed it at #14,096 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
#14,096
National first-name rank
People counted
842
842 in the published race/origin table
Per 100,000
0.3
People with this name in 2020
Largest reported group
White
78.6% of people with this name
Demographics
Ancestry and ethnicity for Tommye
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tommye is White at 78.6%. The next largest groups are Black (15.2%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Tommye 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 Tommye at the time of the 2020 Census, not any inherent property of the name itself.
- White78.6% · 662
- Black or African American15.2% · 128
- Two or more races3.3% · 28
- Hispanic or Latino1.9% · 16
- American Indian and Alaska Native0.8% · 7
- Asian and Pacific Islander0.1% · 1
Gender
Gender distribution for Tommye
Tommye leans heavily female at 96.6% of total registrations, but 52 boys have also been registered with the name over the years, giving it a small but present crossover presence.
Tommye as a male name
- Ranked #6,994 in 1979
- 5 male births in 1979
- Peak: 1922 (6 births)
Tommye as a female name
- Ranked #9,567 in 1977
- 6 female births in 1977
- Peak: 1942 (51 births)
2020 Census snapshot
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tommye leans strongly female. 776 people counted with this name were female (91.1%), compared with 76 male bearers (8.9%).
Popularity
Tommye: popularity over time
The SSA tracks Tommye from the 1900s through to the 1970s, spanning 8 decades of birth certificate data. The biggest single decade for the name was the 1940s, with 418 total registrations. Usage has dropped considerably from its 1940s peak. The most recent decade brought in only a fraction of the registrations that the name once attracted.
Babies born per year
Decades
Tommye 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 Tommye during that decade, along with a combined total. This is useful for spotting eras where the name surged or retreated.
Geography
Where Tommyes live
The SSA's state-level files cover 7 states and territories. Texas, Tennessee, Mississippi recorded the most babies named Tommye, while Louisiana, Alabama, Arkansas recorded the fewest. The average across all reporting states is about 85 registrations each.
Origin
Meaning and history of Tommye
The name Tommye is a variant spelling of the English name Tommy, which is a diminutive or pet form of the name Thomas. The name Thomas itself is derived from the Aramaic name Toma, meaning "twin." It ultimately traces its origins to the ancient Greek name Didymos, also meaning "twin."
The name Tommye emerged as an alternative spelling of Tommy, likely arising in the 18th or 19th century when creative spellings of traditional names became popular among certain social classes or regions. The addition of the "ye" ending may have been influenced by older English spellings or regional dialects.
While the name Thomas has biblical roots and appears in the New Testament as the name of one of the Twelve Apostles, the variant spelling Tommye does not have any specific historical or religious significance. It is simply a variant form of the more common Tommy or Thomas.
One of the earliest recorded individuals with the name Tommye was Tommye Pratt, a British actor and singer who appeared in stage productions in the early 20th century, born in 1888 and died in 1949. Another notable bearer of the name was Tommye Conner, an American baseball player who played in the Negro Leagues in the 1940s and 1950s.
Tommye Barker was an American football player who played for the San Francisco 49ers in the 1950s and 1960s. Tommye Hitt was an American country music singer and songwriter active in the 1970s and 1980s. Tommye Hancock was an American artist and sculptor known for her work in the latter half of the 20th century.
These individuals represent some of the most notable bearers of the name Tommye throughout history, though it has remained a relatively uncommon variant spelling compared to the more widespread use of Tommy or Thomas.
People
Tommye + last name combinations
How many people share a full name with Tommye 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
Tommye: questions and answers
How many people in the U.S. are named Tommye?
Name Census puts the figure at roughly 512 living Americans. We arrive at this by taking every SSA birth registration for Tommye 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 669,442 US residents.
Is Tommye a common name?
We classify Tommye as "Very Rare". It ranks above 84.8% of all first names in the SSA dataset by living bearers. Across the full history of the data, 1,508 babies have been registered with this name.
When was Tommye most popular?
The single biggest year for Tommye was 1942, when 51 babies received the name. The fact that the average living Tommye is about 76 years old gives you a rough sense of which era contributed the most bearers who are still alive today.
How common was Tommye in the 2020 Census?
The published 2020 Census first-name tables recorded 842 people with the name Tommye, or 0.28 per 100,000 residents. That placed it at #14,096 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 Tommye 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 Tommye?
In the 2020 Census sex table, Tommye leans strongly female. 776 people counted with this name were female (91.1%), compared with 76 male bearers (8.9%). 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 Tommye?
In the 2020 Census race and Hispanic-origin table, the largest reported group for people named Tommye is White at 78.6%. The next largest groups are Black (15.2%) and Two or More Races (3.3%). 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 Tommye most often in the Census?
White is the largest reported group for people named Tommye in the 2020 Census, accounting for 78.6% (662 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 Tommye in that year. That makes it useful for spotting when the name rose, peaked, or faded.
Is Tommye a female name?
Yes, 96.6% of people registered as Tommye in the SSA data are female. 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 Tommye still being used today?
Yes. The SSA still recorded Tommye 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 Tommye 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 are called Tommye?
You can see how many Americans are named Tommye on our sister site HowManyOfMe.org — same data roots, lighter UI.