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 [ 2 syll. (t)ho-mas, th-om-as ] The boy name Thomas is pronounced as TAAMahS KEY. Thomas is used chiefly in the English, French, German, and Scandinavian languages, and it is derived from Aramaic origins. Biblical name from the element 'teoma' meaning twin. The name is derived via Didymos (Old Greek) from the byname Teoma (Aramaic). The name was borne by several characters in the Bible, notably the apostle Thomas who had a twin brother; he was originally called Judas but was given a new name to distinguish him from Judas Iscariot. The name was in medieval times often given to Christians in honor of the apostle. It was borne by a number of saints, including Saint Thomas Becket (1118-1170), the archbishop of Canterbury martyred under King Henry II, the philosopher and theologian Saint Thomas Aquinas (1225-1274), and Saint Thomas More, an English humanist scholar martyred for opposing King Henry VIII. The commonality of the name is reflected in the use of the phrase 'Tom, Dick and Harry' as a reference for anyone. The name Tommy is also used as a generic name for British soldiers, commonly believed to originate from Private Thomas Atkins, a brave solider at the Battle of Boxtel in 1794 whose death was witnessed by the Duke of Wellington. The name Thomasina (English) is the female form of Thomas. Thomas is a widely used name; it has 52 variants that are used in both English and other languages. Variants of Thomas used in English include Massey, Tameas, Tammany, Tammen, Thompson, Tomlin, and Tomm. Other English variants include the short forms Tam (used in Scottish as well), Thom (used in Dutch and as well), and Tom (used in French, and German as well), and the pet forms Tammy (used in Scottish as well), Thommy (used in French, and German as well), Tomie, Tommie, and Tommy. Foreign variants of Thomas include Chumo (Spanish), Foma (Russian), Fomka (Russian), Komaki (Hawaiian), Masaccio (Italian), Maso (Italian), Slawek (Polish), Tamas (Hungarian), Tamás (Hungarian), Tavis (Scottish), Tavish (Irish and Scottish), Tàmhas (Scottish), Tevin (Scottish), Tevis (Scottish), Tevish (Scottish), Thoma (German), Thumas (French), Tomas (Portuguese, Scandinavian, and Spanish), Tomaso (Italian), Tomasso (Italian), Tomasz (Polish), Tomás (Czech and Irish), Tomcio (Polish), Tome (Portuguese), Tomek (Polish), Tomelis (Lithuanian), Tomi (Hungarian), Tomislaw (Polish), Tommaso (Italian), Tomos (Welsh), Toomas (Estonian), Tòmachan (Scottish), Tòmag (Scottish), Tòmas (Scottish), Tuomas (Finnish), and Tuomo (Finnish). Another foreign variant is the short form Maas (Dutch). See also the related form, Macy (English). Thomas is a classic favorite. At present it is still popular as a baby name for boys, though to a lesser extent than it was before. At the peak of its usage in 1951, 2.526% of baby boys were given the name Thomas. Its ranking then was #8. The baby name has since fallen in popularity, and is today of occasional use. In 2008, its usage was only 0.383% and its ranking #52, but it was nonetheless the most popular out of all boy names in its group. In 2008, Thomas was more commonly used than the next most popular name, Tommy (English), by 16 times. Thomas has predominantly been a boy name, though in the past century it has also been used for girls. In 1983, Thomas as a boy name outnumbered its use as a girl name by 115 times. Baby names that sound like Thomas include Tamus (English), Tamas (Hungarian), Tamás (Hungarian), Tanas (Russian), Tanek (German and Polish), Tàmhas (Scottish), Teunis (Dutch), Thanos (Greek), Thonus (Dutch), Thumas (French), Timaeus (English and German), Timeus (English and German), Timka (Russian), Timok (Russian), Tinus (Dutch), Tomas (Portuguese, Scandinavian, and Spanish), Tomasz (Polish), Tomás (Czech and Irish), Tomek (Polish), and Tomos (Welsh). Details of famous persons named Thomas: KEY: Pronunciation for Thomas: T as in "tea (T.IY)" ; AA as in "odd (AA.D)" ; M as in "me (M.IY)" ; AH as in "hut (HH.AH.T)" ; S as in "sea (S.IY)"   |
