Thomas is a male name of Aramaic origins. The English spelling ''Thomas'' is a transliteration through Latin ''Thomas'', of the approximate Greek transliteration (), from ), meaning ' twin'. Thomas is recorded in the Greek

New Testament The New Testament (NT) is the second division of the Christian biblical canon. It discusses the teachings and person of Jesus in Christianity, Jesus, as well as events relating to Christianity in the 1st century, first-century Christianit ...

as the name of Thomas the Apostle (one of the twelve apostles of

Jesus Jesus (AD 30 or 33), also referred to as Jesus Christ, Jesus of Nazareth, and many Names and titles of Jesus in the New Testament, other names and titles, was a 1st-century Jewish preacher and religious leader. He is the Jesus in Chris ...

Etymology

The masculine noun (Tôm) occurs throughout

Semitic languages The Semitic languages are a branch of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. They include Arabic, Amharic, Tigrinya language, Tigrinya, Aramaic, Hebrew language, Hebrew, Maltese language, Maltese, Modern South Arabian language ...

, always meaning 'twin'.

Popularity

Various historical figures such as

Thomas Aquinas Thomas Aquinas ( ; ; – 7 March 1274) was an Italian Dominican Order, Dominican friar and Catholic priest, priest, the foremost Scholasticism, Scholastic thinker, as well as one of the most influential philosophers and theologians in the W ...

and

Thomas Jefferson Thomas Jefferson (, 1743July 4, 1826) was an American Founding Fathers of the United States, Founding Father and the third president of the United States from 1801 to 1809. He was the primary author of the United States Declaration of Indepe ...

have borne the name. This

list of people with given name Thomas {{short description, People with given name Thomas This article lists notable people with the given name Thomas. * Thomas (bishop of the East Angles) (fl. ca. 647–648), Christian bishop of Dunwich * Sir Thomas à Beckett (judge) (1836–1919), A ...

contains others.

Canada

It was Canada's eighth most popular name for boys in 2022.

Europe

Thomas was a popular name throughout medieval

Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...

. In Britain the name was rare prior to the

Norman Conquest The Norman Conquest (or the Conquest) was the 11th-century invasion and occupation of England by an army made up of thousands of Normans, Norman, French people, French, Flemish people, Flemish, and Bretons, Breton troops, all led by the Du ...

(11th century CE), but by the 13th and 14th centuries it had become common. In 2017 it ranked 13th in popularity in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

with 3,246 babies given the name.

United States

The Social Security Administration lists the name Thomas as the ninth most popular name in the United States over the past 100 years. In 2017 it ranked 48th in popularity with 7,131 babies given the name.

In other languages

Afrikaans Afrikaans is a West Germanic languages, West Germanic language spoken in South Africa, Namibia and to a lesser extent Botswana, Zambia, Zimbabwe and also Argentina where there is a group in Sarmiento, Chubut, Sarmiento that speaks the Pat ...

: Thomas * Albanian: Tom, Thoma, Thomas * Alemannic: Thömu, Thömus, Thömi * Amharic: ቶማስ (Tomas) *

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

: توماس (Tūmās) * Aragonese: Tomás * Armenian: Թովմաս (Tʿovmas), Թովմա (Tʿovma), Թումաս (Tʿumas), Թումա (Tʿuma) *

Basque Basque may refer to: * Basques, an ethnic group of Spain and France * Basque language, their language Places * Basque Country (greater region), the homeland of the Basque people with parts in both Spain and France * Basque Country (autonomous co ...

: Tomas * Bavarian: Douma, Dammal, Dammerl * Belarusian: Томас (Tomas), Tamas * Breton: Tomaz * Bulgarian: Тома́ (Tomá) * Catalan: Tomàs * Chinese: (), () * Cornish: Tommas * Croatian Tomislav, Toma * Czech: Tomáš * Danish: Thomas * Dutch: Thomas, Tom * English: Thomas, Tom, Tommy * Estonian: Toomas * Faroese: Tummas * Finnish: Tuomas, Tommi, Toimi * Flemish: Thom, Thomas * French: Thomas * Frisian: Tomas * Friulian: Tomâs * Galician: Tomé * German: Thomas, Tomas, Tom, Tomi * Georgian: თომა (Toma), თომას (Tomas) * Greek: Θωμάς (Thomás) * Hawaiian: Koma, Kamaki *

Hebrew Hebrew (; ''ʿÎbrit'') is a Northwest Semitic languages, Northwest Semitic language within the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family. A regional dialect of the Canaanite languages, it was natively spoken by the Israelites and ...

: (Ta'om), (Tomas) * Hungarian: Tamás * Icelandic: Tómas * Indonesian: Tomas, Thomas, Tommy * Irish: Tomás, Tomáisín * Italian: Tommaso, Tomaso, Tom(m)asino * Japanese: (Tōmasu), (Tomu) * Korean: (Doma), (Tom) *

Latin Latin ( or ) is a classical language belonging to the Italic languages, Italic branch of the Indo-European languages. Latin was originally spoken by the Latins (Italic tribe), Latins in Latium (now known as Lazio), the lower Tiber area aroun ...

: Thōmās * Latvian: Tomass, Tomas, Toms * Lithuanian: Tomas, Tamošius * Lombard: Tomàs * Macedonian: Тома (Toma) * Maltese: Tumas *

Malayalam Malayalam (; , ) is a Dravidian languages, Dravidian language spoken in the Indian state of Kerala and the union territories of Lakshadweep and Puducherry (union territory), Puducherry (Mahé district) by the Malayali people. It is one of ...

: Thoma * Manchu: （Toma） * Manx: Thomaase * Maori: Tāmati * Meitei (officially called Manipuri): (Thōmas), (Thōmās) * Norwegian: Thomas, Tomas * Occitan: Tomàs * Persian: توما (Tumâ), توماس‎ (Tumâs) * Polish: Tomasz * Portuguese: Tomé, Tomás * Romanian: Toma * Romansh: Tumasch * Russian: (Tomas), (Foma) * Sardinian: Tommasu *

Scottish Gaelic Scottish Gaelic (, ; Endonym and exonym, endonym: ), also known as Scots Gaelic or simply Gaelic, is a Celtic language native to the Gaels of Scotland. As a member of the Goidelic language, Goidelic branch of Celtic, Scottish Gaelic, alongs ...

: Tòmas, Tàmhas * Serbian Toma, Tomi *

Serbo-Croatian Serbo-Croatian ( / ), also known as Bosnian-Croatian-Montenegrin-Serbian (BCMS), is a South Slavic language and the primary language of Serbia, Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Montenegro. It is a pluricentric language with four mutually i ...

: Тома/Toma, Томаш/Tomaš * Sicilian: Tumasi * Slovak: Tomáš, Thomas * Slovene: Tomaž * Spanish: Tomás * Swedish: Thomas, Tomas * Tamil: (Tāmas), (Tōmā) * Telugu: (Thāmas) * Tigrinya: (Tomas) * Syriac: ܬܐܘܡܐ (Toma) * Turkish: Tomas * Ukrainian: Томас (Tomas), Тома (Toma) * Vietnamese: Tâm (Tom) * Walloon: Toumas * Welsh: Tomos, Twm

References

{{Reflist Given names Aramaic-language names English-language masculine given names English masculine given names Irish masculine given names Scottish masculine given names French masculine given names German masculine given names Dutch masculine given names Norwegian masculine given names Swedish masculine given names Danish masculine given names Hebrew masculine given names Masculine given names