Tomlinson
A patronymic surname meaning “son of Tomlin,” with Tomlin being a pet form of Thomas.
The #1,407 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 12,216 Americans shares it.
Etymology
Tomlinson is an English patronymic built from Tomlin plus the suffix -son, meaning “son of.” Tomlin itself is a diminutive or pet form of Tom, ultimately from Thomas. Thomas came into English through medieval French from the biblical Aramaic name Ta’oma, meaning “twin.”
History
Historical records show the surname in medieval England, including a 1379 Yorkshire Poll Tax form, Henricus Thomlynson. The name is especially well attested in northern England, where local pronunciation and spelling variants produced forms such as Tomlin, Tomlinson, and occasional spellings like Taminson. Later sources also note regional confusion with forms such as Townson in parts of Lancashire, though that is treated cautiously by the older writers.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
A few 19th-century surname scholars warned that in some Lancashire records people were sometimes misread or locally pronounced in ways that made Tomlinson look like entirely different surnames, so old directory work can be tricky.
From the historical record
“TOMLINS, ToMLiN's(Son) 1 „ .r„,„,i„ TOMLINSON, Tomlin's Son j ^- 'O""""- HenricusThomlynson. — Yorks Poll-Tax, A.D. 1379. TOMLYN = Tomlin, q.v. TOMMAS = Thomas, q.v. TOMPKIN= (with the common post -»; intrus. p) Tom kin, q.v.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)