How common is the name Thomas?

1,506,606 people in the United States have the first name Thomas, about 1 in 200. It ranks #12 of 53,615 first names in the 2020 Census.

first name

THOMAS

#12

of 53,615 first names recorded in the 2020 Census

People
1,506,606
About
1 in 200
This common or more
9%
Who bears it

Of the 1,506,606 people named Thomas, 87% reported their origin as White, 4.7% as Black and 3.9% as Hispanic or Latino. Virtually all are male (99.9%). These count how people described themselves on the 2020 Census, not where the name comes from.

Thomas peaked in 1952, when 48,725 babies got the name.

Births per year, SSA records 1880–2025
18802025
Peak year
1952
Births that year
48,725
In 2025*
6,924 ▼86%
Recorded as
almost entirely male

At least 2,367,087 babies have been given the name since 1880. Years SSA withheld, because fewer than 5 were born, are skipped rather than drawn as zero. * 2025 is the newest year published and it undercounts: a card application is filed some time after a birth.

Thomas by decade

Among all names given to American babies, it ranked #11 in every decade from the 1950s to the 1960s. The largest share of babies named Thomas, 34.3%, were born during the baby boom (1946–1964).

1880s#1423,841
1890s#3321,238
1900s#4021,929
1910s#2192,063
1920s#18162,051
1930s#15184,710
1940s#12351,737
1950s#11455,339
1960s#11328,237
1970s#28187,856
1980s#34178,967
1990s#45146,924
2000s#58102,261
2010s#7670,110
2020s#6039,824
Before 19012%
Greatest Generation 1901–2710.2%
Silent Generation 1928–4516.7%
Baby boom 1946–6434.3%
Generation X 1965–8014.8%
Millennials 1981–9611.4%
Generation Z 1997–126.8%
2013 and later3.8%

Rank counts both sexes together, among every name SSA recorded that decade; the number under it is births. The 2020s run only to 2025. Generation years follow Pew Research Center, which has not named a generation after 2012.

Where Thomas is most common

Compared with all babies born in each state since 1910, Thomas has been most common in Rhode Island (1.5×), Connecticut (1.5×), and New Jersey (1.5×), and least common in Texas (0.53×).

2,295,448 births recorded by state, 1910–2025. 2× means twice as common as nationally. States with fewer than 30 such births are left blank, and SSA withholds any year with fewer than 5 in a state, so small states read low.

Either side of Thomas

#10 Joseph · 1,600,667#11 Richard · 1,575,998#13 Christopher · 1,499,872#14 Jennifer · 1,331,077

Spelled almost the same

5 first names in the 2020 Census spelled within a letter or two of Thomas, most common first.

#20,463 Thomasa · 505#20,856 Thoms · 492#27,176 Thonas · 338#46,015 Thomes · 146#52,900 Thamas · 104

Also a last name

As a last name, Thomas ranks #16 of 156,621, with 734,345 people. See Thomas as a last name

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