Toma
A surname with multiple possible roots, often treated as a short form of Thomas but sometimes linked in older scholarship to Anglo-Saxon names like Toma or to local place-name forms.
The #7,558 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 70,185 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Toma is tricky because the historical material points in more than one direction. One line of scholarship treats it as a surname built on Thomas, ultimately from the Aramaic name meaning “twin,” via Greek and Latin forms. Another older English note connects it with medieval names such as Toma and Tumma, and with the place-name Tomanworthig (later Tamworth), suggesting an Old English local or personal-name source in some cases. In practice, the surname may have arisen independently in different places from these different roots.
History
English surname dictionaries from the 19th century record Toma among forms related to Tom, Tomey, and Tomb, while also noting an old personal name Toma in medieval records. Because the modern surname is relatively uncommon, it may reflect several separate origins rather than one single family line. The form is also found outside English-speaking areas today, which makes a single-etymology explanation even less secure.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
One 19th-century source even connected Toma with the old form Tomanworthig, the ancestor of modern Tamworth, showing how surname etymology can overlap with place-name history.
From the historical record
“Appleby, CO, Weatm,' : Dm. Nat. Biog. '^ '^toma. Bainbrire, n"*" of ChriWa College, Camb. (i£o-i646), "deicendcd out orilic North '■ • : ibid, p. 445. , ^ . 'Reeinald Baynbridge or Baifibngg (iMS-i6n*). Bclioolma.iet and anliquary,”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames, with special American instances