A male name. an Aramaic word signifying ‘twin’; in the Gospels the name of one of the twelve apostles, also known as Didymus, the Greek for a twin. Eusebius says that his real name was Judah, and his nickname may well have been used by his companions to distinguish him from the two other Judahs, Judah the brother of James (St Jude), and Judah of Kerioth (Judas Iscariot). Thomas is found in England before the Norman Conquest only as a priest’s name, but with the advent of the Normans it soon came into general use. Two of the earliest Norman Archbishops of York were so named, Thomas of Bayeux (d. 1100) and his nephew and successor (d. 1112). In the later Middle Ages Thomas was one of the commonest men’s names, and this was owing to the fame of St Thomas of Canterbury (Thomas à Becket, 1118— 70), whose martyrdom and canonization made Canterbury the greatest object of pilgrimage in the country. From the 13th C onwards Thomas has been one of the half-dozen commonest men’s names in England (cf. the expression Every Tom, Dick, and Harry). Most of the church dedications in this name were originally to St Thomas of Canterbury, but Henry VIII, who had a special dislike to the memory of the recalcitrant archbishop, had them altered to St Thomas the Apostle. The usual medieval abbreviation of Thomas was Thome, later (from the 14th C) Tom. The surnames Thomas, Thom, Thoms, Tomson, Tompson, Thomson, Thompson, Tomlin, Thomlin, Tomlinson, Thomlinson, Tomkin, Thomkin, Tompkin, Thompkin, Tomkins, Thomkins, Tompkins, Thompkins are some of those formed from it.

Thomas Domesday Book 1086, Curia Regis Rolls 1199-1220, Hundred Rolls 1273. Thome Hundred Rolls 1273, Yorks Poll Tax of West Riding of Yorkshire 1379 1379. Thomasin, Thomelin Exchequer Rolls 1306. Tom Yorks Poll Tax of West Riding of Yorkshire 1379 1379. Thom Coventry Mysteries 15th C.

The usual, more adult pet-form of Thomas. Its transferred uses, like those of Jack, are numerous. ‘ In the 16th century we find Tom (as a nickname for a man-servant) ... and Tom and Tib (i. e. Isabel) were rival personifications of Jack and Jill. Tomboy was an unruly boy before becoming a boisterous girl, and the wandering lunatic was Tom o’ Bedlam,’ Weekley, W. & N. For slang and colloquial senses, see my Unconventional English.

A baptismal name abbreviated from Thomas. It is found as a female name.

A Gaelic-Cymric name, meaning: Rising ground: eminent. Some authorities also give this as a diminutive of Thomas.