McComas
A Manx and Gaelic surname probably meaning “son of Thomas,” though its exact form has been reshaped in different local spellings.
The #6,973 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 64,162 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The name is best understood as a patronymic built on a personal name related to Thomas. In the Manx and Gaelic spellings cited in older sources, forms such as MacComas, MacComais, and MacOmish seem to reflect local pronunciation and spelling changes rather than a completely separate root. The underlying sense is therefore likely “son of Thomas,” though the intermediate forms are a little irregular.
History
Older Manx scholarship notes several related island forms and suggests that different spellings were current in different parts of the Isle of Man. The name appears in medieval and early modern records in variants such as MacComish, MacComis, and MacComais, which later helped produce the modern Anglicized McComas. It is now uncommon, but survives as a distinct surname in the United States and elsewhere in the English-speaking world.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
An older Manx source notes that the surname had different local forms in the north and south of the island, showing how one family name could shift noticeably from parish to parish.
From the historical record
“' Thomas's son.' Commaish looks more Hke the former, Comish the latter. Compare — (Irish) MacComas, (Gaelic) MacOmish. The form Commaish is more common in the North and Comish in the South of the Island, but the name is not so often met with as formerly. MacComish [1430], MacComis, MacComais”
— The Surnames & Place-Names of the Isle of Man