Humanverse

Thomas vs Thoms

American parents have registered 2,367,087 Thomases since 1880, against 210 Thomses. Thomas is still ahead, with 6,924 babies in 2025.

Babies given each name, 1880–2025

Births per year: Thomas against Thoms, 1880 to 2025 0 12.5k 25k 37.5k 50k 1880 1900 1920 1940 1960 1980 2000 2020

Thomas Thoms

Each line is every baby given the name that year, girls and boys added together — the only count that means the same thing for both names. A line breaks where the name fell below five babies in a year — the point at which the SSA stops publishing it — rather than being drawn through a figure nobody published. A single published year in a gap shows as a dot.

Who was ahead

Thomas has been the commoner name in every year either was published, 1880 to 2025. The lead has never changed hands.

The closest they came was 1987, when Thomas had 18,264 and Thoms had 11.

Side by side

  Thomas Thoms
Total US births 2,367,087210
Most in one year 48,72511
Babies in 2025 6,924under 5
Estimated living today 1.5 million170
Median age today 5755
Peak year 19521969
Best rank 8th boys2,682nd boys
Rank in 2025 34thunranked
First recorded 18801943
Girls / boys 8,511 / 2,358,5760 / 210

A rank is a position within one sex’s list for one year, so the two rank rows are not subtracted from one another and the winning column is not marked on them. The living figure is a life-table estimate, not a count.

Which name is older

Half of the Thomases alive today are over 57; half the Thomses are over 55. That is 2 years between them: two names in use at the same time, worn by two different generations.

Compare something else

Related comparisons

Social Security Administration birth records, 1880–2025, public domain. Full histories: Thomas and Thoms.