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The surname Thames

A Latin surname, carried by 7,619 people in the United States.

Pronounced /tɛmz/ 1 syllable Soundex T520

Thames: #4,654 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#10Martinez#100Jimenez#1,000Archer Thames #4,654, 7,619 people Thames: #4,654 of 162,253 surnames in the 2010 US Census #1Smith#160,975Doriott#100Jimenez Thames #4,654, 7,619 people
Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Thames is more common than 97.1% of them.

Origin

Latin origin

From Middle English Temse, Temese, from Old English Temes, Temese (compare Welsh Tafwys), from Latin Tamesis, Tamesas. Variant spellings with h arose in Middle English due to the mistaken assumption of a Greek etymology. The modern spelling with a stems from either the East Saxon dialects of Middle English and Old English or the influence of Tamesis. The Latin name is from Proto-Brythonic *Tamesis, from Proto-Celtic *tamesās (“river, waters”, literally “darkness”), a masculine ā-stem of *tames, Proto-Indo-European *tm̥Hes-, zero-grade of *témHes-, *témHos- (“darkness”), an s-stem from the root *temH- (“dark”). Related to Proto-Celtic *temeslos (“darkness”), *temos (“dark”).

One of 91 Latin surnames on this site.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 7,619 people named Thames in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 40,523 Americans. That is up 8.0% since 2000, when the Census counted 7,052.

#4,654
rank among US surnames
7,619
people in 2010
2.6
per 100,000 Americans
+8%
change since 2000 (was #4,604)
RankSurnamePeople1 in
#4,649Fortier7,63440,443
#4,650Stroup7,62740,481
#4,652Mather7,62140,512
#4,654Halsey7,61940,523
#4,656Borja7,61840,528

Who is named Thames

Race and Hispanic origin as people reported it in the 2010 Census

60% of people named Thames identified as white (not Hispanic), 35% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.6% as two or more races.

  • White (not Hispanic) 60%
  • Black (not Hispanic) 35%
  • Two or more races 2.6%
  • Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.0%
  • American Indian and Alaska Native 0.5%
  • Asian and Pacific Islander 0.5%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Thamess

3 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

  • Mason Thames
    American actor, born 2007
  • Eric Thames
    American former professional baseball player, born 1986
  • Byron Thames
    American television and film actor and musician, born 1969

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Surnames that sound like Thames

Thames has the Soundex code T520, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code T520.

Other Latin surnames

Questions

Where does the surname Thames come from?
From Middle English Temse, Temese, from Old English Temes, Temese (compare Welsh Tafwys), from Latin Tamesis, Tamesas. Variant spellings with h arose in Middle English due to the mistaken assumption of a Greek etymology. The modern spelling with a stems from either the East Saxon dialects of…
How common is the surname Thames?
7,619 people in the United States had the surname Thames in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 40,523 Americans. It ranked 4,654th of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Thames?
In the 2010 Census, 60% of people named Thames identified as white (not Hispanic), and 35% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Thames?
Mason Thames, American actor, followed by Eric Thames.
Where is the surname Thames most common?
Wikidata records people named Thames in the United States.
How do you pronounce Thames?
Thames is /tɛmz/, one syllable.
Is the surname Thames getting more or less common?
More common. 7,052 people carried it in the 2000 Census and 7,619 in 2010, up 8.0%.