Find out how popular the last name Tum is in the United States and learn more about the meaning, history, and race and ethnic origin of people in America who are named Tum.

Tum, like all of the last names we have data for, is identified by the U.S. Census Bureau as a surname which has more than 100 occurrences in the United States in the Decennial Census survey. The most recent statistics we have for the Tum surname is from the 2010 census data.

Popularity of Tum in America

Tum is the 53419th most popular name in America based on the data we have collected from the U.S. Census Bureau.

The Tum surname appeared 387 times in the 2010 census and if you were to sample 100,000 people in the United States, approximately 0 people would have the surname Tum.

We can also compare 2010 data for Tum to data from the previous census in 2000. The table below contains all of the statistics for both years in a side-by-side comparison.

The history of the last name Tum

The surname Tum has its origins in the Middle English word "tum", which meant "empty" or "vacant". It is believed to have originated in the county of Suffolk, England, during the late 13th century.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name can be found in the Hundred Rolls of 1273, where a man named John Tum was listed as a resident of the village of Bury St. Edmunds. This suggests that the name was already in use as a surname by that time.

In the 14th century, the name appears in various manorial records and court rolls across East Anglia, with spellings such as Tume, Tume, and Tume. One notable example is the record of a landowner named Robert Tum, who held property in the village of Walsham le Willows, Suffolk, in the year 1327.

The name may have been derived from a place name, as was common in the formation of surnames during the Middle Ages. There is a village called Tum in the county of Norfolk, which could have been the original source of the surname.

In the 15th century, the name appears in the records of the Guild of Corpus Christi in the city of York, where a certain William Tum is listed as a member in 1484.

One of the earliest recorded instances of the name in Scotland can be found in the Exchequer Rolls of 1512, where a man named John Tum is mentioned as a tenant farmer in the county of Fife.

Throughout the centuries, there have been several notable individuals bearing the surname Tum. One of the earliest was John Tum, a wealthy merchant and alderman of the city of Norwich, who lived in the late 15th century.

In the 17th century, a man named Thomas Tum (1624-1689) was a prominent Puritan minister and author, known for his sermons and theological writings.

Another notable figure was Sir William Tum (1716-1793), a British naval officer who served in the Royal Navy during the Seven Years' War and the American Revolutionary War.

In the 19th century, James Tum (1823-1898) was a Scottish architect who designed several notable buildings in Glasgow and Edinburgh.

Finally, one of the most recent notable individuals with the surname was Sir Arthur Tum (1886-1964), a British diplomat and civil servant who served as the Ambassador to Turkey from 1934 to 1939.

Race and ethnic origin of people with the last name Tum

We also have some data on the ancestry of people with the surname Tum.

The below race categories are the modified race categories used in the Census Bureau's population estimates program. All people were categorized into six mutually exclusive racial and Hispanic origin groups:

1. White only
2. Black only
3. American Indian and Alaskan Native only
4. Asian and Pacific Islander only
5. Hispanic
6. Two or More Races

For the most recent 2010 census data, the race/ethnic origin breakdown for Tum was:

Note: Any fields showing (S) means the data was suppressed for privacy so that the data does not in any way identify any specific individuals.

Since we have data from the previous census in 2000, we can also compare the values to see how the popularity of Tum has changed in the 10 years between the two census surveys.

Data source

The last name data and ethnic breakdown of last names is sourced directly from the Decennial Census survey, conducted every 10 years by the United States Census Bureau.

The history and meaning of the name Tum was researched and written by our team of onomatology and genealogy experts.

If you have a correction or suggestion to improve the history of Tum, please contact us.

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