Tomas
A surname from the personal name Thomas, ultimately meaning “twin.”
The #4,623 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 40,238 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Tomas is a surname formed from the given name Thomas and its many European equivalents, especially the Romance and Slavic forms Tomas, Tomás, Tomasz, and Tomasso. The underlying name goes back to Aramaic t'oma, meaning “twin.” In surname use, it usually began as a patronymic or family-name form meaning “son of Thomas” or “belonging to Thomas.”
History
The name Thomas became widespread in medieval Europe because of St. Thomas the Apostle and later St. Thomas Becket, and surnames derived from it developed independently in many languages. In some traditions, Tomas is simply the local form of the biblical name used as a hereditary surname, while in others it reflects a shortened patronymic family name. Because the same spelling appears in several languages, modern bearers may come from different ethnic and regional surname traditions.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
St. Thomas was especially popular in medieval naming partly because of both the apostle and the fame of St. Thomas Becket's shrine at Canterbury.
From the historical record
“Hugo le Botyler, ca Camb., ibid. 1635. Bapt— Tomas Bottler, son of WilUam Bottler : St. Michael, ComhiU, p. 13$. London, 114 ; Philadelphia, 238.”
— A Dictionary of English and Welsh Surnames (alternate scan)