MEANING & HISTORY
What does Tom mean?
Tom is an established familiar form of Thomas, recorded in medieval English forms such as Thomme. Thomas comes through Greek from an Aramaic word for twin.
The short form carries that name-family connection but is not itself an ordinary English word meaning twin. Tom can also be registered independently; its linguistic history does not imply that its bearer has a twin.
References for this explanation
Pronunciation & syllables
Dictionary readings are kept by language. Select the reading that matches your intended pronunciation. Dots show the source’s written divisions; they are not a universal syllable count across languages.
Wiktionary contributors / Kaikki / Wiktextract · CC BY-SA 4.0
Origin and name formation
Language-specific accounts from the dictionary. A shared spelling can have more than one history.
EnglishEtymology & source
From Middle English Thomme. Hypocorism of Thomas. The dollar-bill sense is from the portrait of Thomas Jefferson featured on it.
A diminutive of the male given name Thomas, also used as a formal male given name.
Adapted from Wiktionary contributors via Kaikki/Wiktextract. Source accounts remain in their original English; editorial summaries and filters are adapted. Attribution and downloads
People with the name Tom
Public figures and other documented namesakes linked by an explicit given-name claim. This is a selection of records, not a popularity ranking.
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Tom Ong
Filipino sports shooter
DOCUMENTED NAMESAKE
Tom Taus
actor
The record establishes the name association, not the person’s intended meaning, pronunciation or ancestry. Descriptions are attributed to Wikidata contributors (CC0).
Use in Philippine-linked records
Public-record transcription
1
eligible source records · 2001
This spelling is reported in an openly licensed transcription of elected-candidate records. This is a record count, not a birth count or national popularity measure.
OpenHalalan / COMELEC ↗PSA · OFFICIAL BIRTH RECORDS
Tom in the birth records
Exact spelling and stated year in the published name tables. Read the counts as individual snapshots.
Tables included: 2016, 2017, 2018, 2020, 2022, 2023 and 2024. The 2016 fact sheet lists five names per sex; the later tables include ten. Missing counts are not inferred. Sex categories follow the official tables, independently of dictionary gender labels. Explore the official tables →
Similar names to Tom
Names with a similar opening or ending, ordered by spelling distance. Similar spelling does not imply the same meaning or origin.
Names in this collection
- Toby♂Medieval familiar form of Tobias
- Todd♂Fox, through an English surname
- Tomas♂Twin
- Tomás♂Twin; from Aramaic through Thomas
- Tommy♂Affectionate form of Tom or Thomas
- Toni♂♀Familiar form of Antonia or Antonio
- Tony♂♀Short form of Anthony or Antony
- Tope♂Christ-bearer, through familiar Christopher
What rhymes with Tom?
No dictionary-confirmed rhyme match is available for this spelling in the current catalogue.
Names with a similar written ending
Spelling suggestions; these are not verified phonetic rhymes.
Explore Tom further
Follow the sources
- OpenHalalan — pinned 2001 COMELEC transcription (opens in a new tab)
Source-reported given-name form in a row with a separate explicit middle initial; ODbL-1.0.
- COMELEC — 2001 List of Elected Candidates (opens in a new tab)
Original document identified by the transcription; selected PDF entries were spot-checked, not every imported row.
- Wikidata given-name item Q3354498 — Tom (opens in a new tab)
Given-name identity, native labels, language associations and explicit class where present; not lexical meaning or population frequency.
- Wikidata — Tom Taus (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q3354498 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wikidata — Tom Ong (opens in a new tab)
Explicit given-name claim P735 linking to Q3354498 and citizenship claim P27 linking to Philippines Q928; community-edited evidence, not a civil-registry record.
- Wiktionary contributors — Tom (English) (opens in a new tab)
Language-specific given-name etymology; shared spelling does not prove every bearer has this origin.
- Wiktionary: Tom (opens in a new tab)
Personal-name formation and etymological relationships; imported dictionary account consulted.
- Wiktionary: Thomas (Tagalog) (opens in a new tab)
Consulted source-name history underlying the compound, root or short form.
- Wiktionary: Thomas (English) (opens in a new tab)
Consulted source-name history underlying the compound, root or short form.