How common is the surname Thompson?

664,644 people in the United States had the surname Thompson in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 465 Americans. It ranked 23rd of 162,253 surnames.

Who is the most famous person named Thompson?

Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist and author (1937–2005), followed by Ken Thompson.

The surnameThompson

A patronymic surname, the 23rd most common in the United States.

Pronounced /ˈtɑmp.sən/ 2 syllables Soundex T512 Also a first name

Every surname held by 100 or more people in the 2010 US Census, most common on the left (162,253 in all). Thompson is more common than 99.9% of them.

Origin

Variant of Thomson, from Tom + -son, originally meaning "son of Thomas". In some instances of people so named, a calque of Scottish Gaelic MacTamhais (“McTavish”); also an anglicisation of the Gaelic name MacTamhais, meaning "son of Thomas".

Thompson is a patronymic surname: formed from a father’s (or ancestor’s) given name.

Origin from Wiktionary (CC BY-SA 4.0).

How common it is

2010 US Census

There were 664,644 people named Thompson in the United States in 2010, about 1 in every 465 Americans. That is up 3.1% since 2000, when the Census counted 644,368.

#23

rank among US surnames

664,644

people in 2010

225

per 100,000 Americans

+3.1%

change since 2000 (was #19)

Rank	Surname	People	1 in
#14	Wilson	801,882	385
#15	Anderson	784,404	394
#16	Thomas	756,142	408
#17	Taylor	751,209	411
#18	Moore	724,374	426
#19	Jackson	708,099	436
#20	Martin	702,625	439

Who is named Thompson

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

70% of people named Thompson identified as white (not Hispanic), 24% as Black (not Hispanic) and 2.5% as Hispanic or Latino (any race).

White (not Hispanic) 70%
Black (not Hispanic) 24%
Hispanic or Latino (any race) 2.5%
Two or more races 2.4%
American Indian and Alaska Native 1.2%
Asian and Pacific Islander 0.6%

Compare: most common surnames among white Americans.

Famous Thompsons

157 notable people on Wikidata, most written-about first

Hunter S. Thompson
American journalist and author (1937–2005)
Ken Thompson
American programmer and computer scientist, co-creator of the Unix operating system (born , born 1943
Tessa Thompson
American actress (born 1983)
Klay Thompson
American basketball player (born 1990)
Fred Thompson
American politician and actor (1942–2015)
Lea Thompson
American actress, born 1961
Benjamin Thompson
American-born British physicist and inventor (1753–1814)
John G. Thompson
American mathematician, born 1932
Ernest Thompson Seton
British/American author, artist and naturalist, and one of the founders of the scouting mo, 1860–1946
Archie Thompson
Australian association football player, born 1978
Kenan Thompson
American comedian and actor (born 1978)
Daley Thompson
British decathlete, born 1958

Notable Thompsons come mostly from the United States (133), Australia (8) and the United Kingdom (7).

Spellings and sound-alikes

Useful when a record has your ancestor under another spelling

Variant spellings

Surnames that sound like Thompson

Thompson has the Soundex code T512, the code US census indexes have used since the 1930s. Every surname with code T512.

Questions

Where does the surname Thompson come from?: Variant of Thomson, from Tom + -son, originally meaning "son of Thomas". In some instances of people so named, a calque of Scottish Gaelic MacTamhais (“McTavish”); also an anglicisation of the Gaelic name MacTamhais, meaning "son of Thomas".
How common is the surname Thompson?: 664,644 people in the United States had the surname Thompson in the 2010 Census, about 1 in every 465 Americans. It ranked 23rd of 162,253 surnames.
What ethnicity is the surname Thompson?: In the 2010 Census, 70% of people named Thompson identified as white (not Hispanic), and 24% as Black (not Hispanic).
Who is the most famous person named Thompson?: Hunter S. Thompson, American journalist and author (1937–2005), followed by Ken Thompson.