surnames.ie

Irish surname · 43rd most common in 1911

Thompson

Thompson means 'son of Thom', a pet form of Thomas. It is mainly an English and Scottish name, brought to Ireland largely by settlers in Ulster from the 17th century, though some Irish and Highland Thompsons descend from Gaelic families called Mac Tómais or MacTavish, 'son of Thomas'.

Irish Mac Tómais · Mac TomáisIrish Mac TámhaisIrish Mac Thómais
1901 census
11,508
#49 · 26 per 10,000
1911 census
11,666
#43 · 27 per 10,000
1926 census
2,741
#209 · 9 per 10,000
Most numerous
Antrim
Highest share: Down

Language & meaning

Meaning & Irish forms

English & Scottish Mostly an English and Lowland Scottish patronymic carried to Ireland by settlers, with a smaller Gaelic strand from the Scottish Mac Tómais and MacTavish families.[1][2][3]

Mac Tómais
Modern spelling: Mac Tomáis
“son of Thomas”[3]
Woulfe gives Thomson and Thompson as English forms. He says the Mac Tómais spelling reached Ireland from Scotland and preserves an older way of saying Thomas, and that in Co. Mayo the name is often turned into Ó Tómais.
Mac Támhais
“son of Thomas”[4][1]
Woulfe treats this as a variant of Mac Tómais, anglicised MacTavish or Thompson. Wikipedia likewise describes Thompson as an English rendering of the Scottish MacTavish.
Mac Thómais
“son of Thomas”[5]
A further variant, which Woulfe calls Scottish in origin. Its English forms run to MacComish, Combes and Holmes rather than Thompson.

The name is built on the personal name Thomas (Thom), usually explained as “twin”. Thom and Thomp are short forms of Thomas, a name Wikipedia traces to an Aramaic word for 'twin'. Woulfe notes that Thomas was among the most popular names with the Anglo-Norman settlers in Ireland.[2][6]

Pronunciation

Thompson: TOMP-sun or TOM-sun

Place

Where the Thompsons lived

How common the name was in each county, as a share of the population, in the three surviving full censuses of Ireland. Use the buttons to compare years.

Donegal: 25.3 per 10,000 (427 people) Waterford: 14.7 per 10,000 (121 people) Dublin: 16.8 per 10,000 (806 people) Kilkenny: 4.5 per 10,000 (34 people) Carlow: 7.7 per 10,000 (28 people) Limerick: 4.7 per 10,000 (68 people) Louth: 9.7 per 10,000 (61 people) Tipperary: 6.4 per 10,000 (98 people) Roscommon: 5 per 10,000 (47 people) Meath: 6.7 per 10,000 (44 people) Wicklow: 16.1 per 10,000 (98 people) Cavan: 11.3 per 10,000 (103 people) Cork: 6.5 per 10,000 (255 people) Clare: 6.1 per 10,000 (64 people) Galway: 4.1 per 10,000 (75 people) Mayo: 2.7 per 10,000 (52 people) Sligo: 4.2 per 10,000 (33 people) Leitrim: 14.4 per 10,000 (91 people) Offaly: 4.9 per 10,000 (28 people) Laois: 31.2 per 10,000 (171 people) Kildare: 10.2 per 10,000 (68 people) Kerry: 3 per 10,000 (48 people) Monaghan: 17.2 per 10,000 (123 people) Wexford: 4.2 per 10,000 (43 people) Longford: 39 per 10,000 (171 people) Westmeath: 4.3 per 10,000 (26 people) Tyrone: 36.3 per 10,000 (518 people) Antrim: 77.7 per 10,000 (3,711 people) Armagh: 52.6 per 10,000 (629 people) Fermanagh: 62.3 per 10,000 (378 people) Londonderry: 48.9 per 10,000 (684 people) Down: 83.8 per 10,000 (2,563 people)
fewerup to 84 per 10,000

Share of each county's census population. 1926 covers the 26 counties of the Irish Free State only.

Highest concentration · 1911

Down

84 per 10,000

2,563 Thompsons · 3.15× the national share

Highest share, 1911

  1. Down 84
  2. Antrim 78
  3. Fermanagh 62
  4. Armagh 53
  5. Londonderry 49
  6. Longford 39
  7. Tyrone 36
  8. Laois 31

Per 10,000 residents. A concentration index above 1 means the name was commoner there than nationally.

County figures as a table
County190119111926Per 10k 1901Per 10k 1911Per 10k 1926
Antrim3,7313,711—8278—
Armagh643629—5253—
Carlow112832389
Cavan1081036911118
Clare586436564
Cork283255231776
Donegal441427352262523
Down2,2702,563—7884—
Dublin776806693181714
Fermanagh406378—6362—
Galway747536442
Kerry384841233
Kildare586859101010
Kilkenny293435455
Laois197171213353141
Leitrim869177121414
Limerick906886656
Londonderry709684—4949—
Longford179171104383926
Louth57616791011
Mayo545243333
Meath464457779
Monaghan168123100231715
Offaly242842458
Roscommon454732554
Sligo293337445
Tipperary969865665
Tyrone534518—3536—
Waterford123121135141517
Westmeath272621444
Wexford394323442
Wicklow799855131610

Local strongholds in 1911

District Electoral Divisions (300+ residents) where Thompsons made up the largest share of the population. In Dundesert, Co. Antrim, about one resident in 15 was a Thompson.

DEDCountyThompsonsShare
DundesertAntrim55 6.5%
BallyscollyAntrim39 5.0%
BallyhalbertDown106 4.7%
Ardagh WestLongford25 3.8%
LissueAntrim37 3.7%
DrumrushFermanagh16 3.7%
CappaloughLaois14 3.7%
KilmoodDown40 3.6%

Origins

Septs & territories

Many Irish surnames were adopted independently by unrelated families. These are the distinct Thompson lineages described in the sources.

A surname can point you towards a place. On its own, it cannot establish a pedigree.

Clan MacTavish

Knapdale, Argyll, with its old seat at Dunardry

A Highland clan whose Gaelic name, MacTàmhais, was put into English as Thomson or Thompson. Wikipedia reports traditions giving the clan an Irish origin, set against a competing Campbell genealogy, so its early history is disputed.[7][1][4]

Clan MacThomas

Glen Shee, in the eastern Highlands

A Highland clan named after Tomaidh Mòr, a 15th-century grandson of a Mackintosh chief, and part of the Clan Chattan confederation. After the clan's lands were lost in the late 17th century, some members moved to the Tay valley and became known as Thomson.[8][2]

The name over time

History

Son of Thom

Thompson is a variant of Thomson, 'son of Thom', and Thom was one of several pet forms of Thomas, among them Thomp and Thompkin. Wikipedia describes the surname as English, Scottish and Irish, and records Thomson in Cheshire both before and after the Norman Conquest. A few English Thompsons may instead take their name from the parish of Thompson in Norfolk, so not every bearer of the name is a 'son of Thomas' in the literal sense.[1][2][9]

The Highland strand

In Gaelic Scotland the same idea was expressed as Mac Thòmais or MacTàmhais, 'son of Thomas'. Two Highland clans gave rise to Thomsons. Clan MacTavish of Argyll anglicised its name this way, and so did members of Clan MacThomas of Glen Shee, some of whom settled in the Tay valley after the chief's family was forced to sell its lands in the late 17th century. Woulfe records Mac Tómais in Ireland as a form that came over from Scotland, and notes that in Mayo it was sometimes gaelicised again as Ó Tómais.[2][7][8][3]

Settlers in Ulster

Most Irish Thompsons trace their ancestry to Britain rather than to Gaelic Ireland. Wikipedia notes that settlers brought the name to Ireland in the plantation period. The Plantation of Ulster, organised under James I in the early 17th century, placed English-speaking Protestant colonists on confiscated Irish land, most of them from the Scottish Lowlands and northern England. Further waves followed later in the century, including tens of thousands of Scots in the 1690s. This history is why Thompson has long been most at home in Ulster.[1][10]

Thompsons in Irish life

Irish bearers of the name have made their mark in several fields. William Thompson of Cork, born in 1775 into the Protestant landed class, became a pioneering critic of capitalism whose writings fed into the cooperative and trade union movements. In Belfast, the naturalist William Thompson laid the foundations of Irish natural history, especially the study of birds. A century later Sam Thompson, who spent most of his working life as a painter in the Belfast shipyards, wrote Over the Bridge, a play about a sectarian dispute among shipyard workers.[11][12][13]

Places linked to the name

  • Clonskeagh (Cluain Sceach), Co. Dublin — Seat of the Thompsons of Clonskeagh Castle, whose arms Burke records.[14]
  • Thompson, Co. Norfolk (England) — English parish that Wikipedia suggests as a possible place-name origin for some Thompsons.[1][9]

Everyday lives

The Thompsons in the census

Who the Thompsons were in the 1901 and 1911 censuses (and 1926 where recorded), set against everyone in Ireland in the same census.

Thompsons All of Ireland Ireland's figure marked on the Thompson bar

Religion, 1911

Catholic −56.0 points vs Ireland
Thompsons 17.6%
All of Ireland 73.6%
Church of Ireland +21.0 points vs Ireland
Thompsons 34.2%
All of Ireland 13.2%
Presbyterian +26.8 points vs Ireland
Thompsons 36.9%
All of Ireland 10.1%
Methodist & other +8.2 points vs Ireland
Thompsons 11.3%
All of Ireland 3.1%

Irish language

Spoke Irish, 1901 −11.4 points vs Ireland
Thompsons 3.9%
All of Ireland 15.3%
Spoke Irish, 1911 −10.1 points vs Ireland
Thompsons 3.4%
All of Ireland 13.5%
Spoke Irish, 1926 · 26 counties −7.5 points vs Ireland
Thompsons 6.0%
All of Ireland 13.5%

169 Thompsons spoke Irish only in 1901.

Reading & writing

Could read and write, 1901 · aged 15+ +6.5 points vs Ireland
Thompsons 86.9%
All of Ireland 80.4%
Could read and write, 1911 · aged 15+ +4.5 points vs Ireland
Thompsons 90.3%
All of Ireland 85.8%

Family life, 1911

Household size · 2,481 households lower than Ireland
Thompsons 4.77
All of Ireland 4.83
Children born per mother · women 45–59 lower than Ireland
Thompsons 5.99
All of Ireland 6.46
Children still living −0.7 points vs Ireland
Thompsons 79.1%
All of Ireland 79.8%

Commonest occupations

Adults aged 15+, 1901 and 1911 combined.

Farmer1,444
Farmer's son565
General labourer336
Farmer's daughter288
Seamstress266
House keeper255
Agricultural labourer248
Labourer239
Farm servant218
Linen weaver204

Born outside Ireland

6.0% of Thompsons in 1911 gave a birthplace outside Ireland.

England488
Scotland149
United States23
India11
Canada8
Australia & NZ5

Median age: 24 in 1901, 25 in 1911.

Given names

First names among the Thompsons

Men and boys

  1. John1,373
  2. James1,192
  3. William1,162
  4. Robert802
  5. Thomas592
  6. Joseph449
  7. George420
  8. Samuel393
  9. David333
  10. Alexander250

Women and girls

  1. Mary1,105
  2. Margaret582
  3. Elizabeth581
  4. Jane551
  5. Sarah531
  6. Annie504
  7. Maggie368
  8. Ellen348
  9. Lizzie334
  10. Agnes295

All three censuses combined. Top five in 1926: John, William, James, Patrick, Thomas; Mary, Margaret, Elizabeth, Bridget, Annie.

Spellings

Spellings

This page combines the spellings below, which census enumerators and families used for the same name.

Spelling190119111926Records
Thompson11,50811,6662,741Search

Related forms

  • Thomson — The older spelling, without the p. Wikipedia treats Thompson as a variant of it.[1][2]
  • MacTavish — The Scottish Gaelic name of which Thomson and Thompson are sometimes English translations.[1][4]
  • MacComish, Combes, Holmes — English forms of the related Mac Thómais, which Woulfe calls Scottish in origin.[5]
  • Thomas — Woulfe lists Thomas among the English forms of Mac Tómais.[3]

Diaspora

The Thompsons abroad

Emigration carried the name worldwide. In the 2010 United States census:

SpellingPeopleUS rank
Thompson664,64423rd

Source: US Census Bureau, 2010 surname file (public domain).

Heraldry

Is there a Thompson coat of arms?

There is no single Thompson coat of arms. Burke's General Armory of 1884 lists dozens of separate Thompson entries, most of them for English families but several for families in Ireland. Among the Irish ones, Burke records arms confirmed to George Thompson of Clonskeagh Castle, Co. Dublin, and the other descendants of his grandfather William Thompson of Clonfin, Co. Longford: gold, with a blue indented fess carrying three gold stars. These belong to that family alone.[14]

Websites selling a single “Thompson family crest” are selling a design, not an inheritance. Arms in Ireland belonged to individuals and their heirs, and the Chief Herald of Ireland still grants arms that way today.

People

Notable people named Thompson

  • Charles Thomson (1729–1824)
    Irish-born secretary of the Continental Congress throughout its existence; spelled Thomson.
  • Benjamin Thompson, Count Rumford (1753–1814)
    American-born British officer, scientist and inventor, a Loyalist in the American War of Independence.
  • David Thompson (1770–1857)
    Fur trader and surveyor who mapped vast stretches of western North America.
  • William Thompson (1775–1833)
    Cork-born social reformer and early critic of capitalism who influenced the cooperative movement.
  • William Thompson (1805–1852)
    Belfast naturalist whose studies founded Irish natural history, especially ornithology.
  • Sydney Mary Thompson (1847–1923)
    Irish geologist, botanist and artist.
  • Sam Thompson (1916–1965)
    Belfast playwright whose Over the Bridge confronted sectarianism in the shipyards.
  • E. P. Thompson (1924–1993)
    English historian, author of The Making of the English Working Class.
  • Hunter S. Thompson (1937–2005)
    American journalist and author, a pioneer of New Journalism.
  • Daley Thompson (born 1958)
    English decathlete, Olympic champion in 1980 and 1984.
  • Emma Thompson (born 1959)
    English actress and screenwriter, winner of two Academy Awards.
  • Ciarán Thompson (born c. 1995)
    Gaelic footballer for Naomh Conaill and Donegal.

Questions

Questions about the Thompson name

Is Thompson an Irish surname?

It is common in Ireland, especially Ulster, but it is not Gaelic Irish in origin. Thompson is an English and Scottish name meaning 'son of Thom', and Wikipedia notes that settlers brought it to Ireland in the plantation period. A small number of Irish Thompsons may descend from Gaelic Scottish families called Mac Tómais, which Woulfe records as a form that came over from Scotland.[1][3]

Is Thompson Scottish or English?

Both. Wikipedia describes the name as English, Scottish and Irish. In England it developed as a patronymic from Thom, a short form of Thomas, and possibly in a few cases from the Norfolk parish of Thompson. In Scotland it arose in the Lowlands, and it was also the English form taken by Highland MacTavishes and some MacThomases.[1][2][8]

What is Thompson in Irish?

The usual Irish equivalent is Mac Tomáis, which Woulfe spells Mac Tómais, 'son of Thomas'. Woulfe also gives the variant Mac Támhais, the source of MacTavish. In Mayo, he says, the name was sometimes made Ó Tómais. These are Irish renderings of a name that is mostly English or Scottish in origin.[3][4]

Are Thompson and Thomson the same name?

Yes, in origin. Both mean 'son of Thom', a pet form of Thomas, and Wikipedia treats Thompson as a variant of Thomson with an added p. Woulfe gives both spellings as English forms of Mac Tómais. Particular families usually kept one spelling, so the difference can still be a useful clue in family history.[1][2][3]

How do you pronounce Thompson?

Wiktionary gives two British pronunciations, 'TOMP-sun' and 'TOM-sun', with the p either sounded lightly or dropped altogether. The h is always silent. In American English the first vowel is more open, closer to 'TAHMP-sun'.[15]

Is there a Thompson family crest or coat of arms?

No single one. Burke's General Armory lists dozens of different Thompson arms, each granted to or used by a particular family, mostly in England but some in Ireland. One Irish example is the arms Burke records for the Thompsons of Clonskeagh Castle in Dublin and Clonfin in Longford. Having the surname does not entitle anyone to any of them.[14]

Where in Ireland is the Thompson surname most common?

In the 1911 census the largest numbers of Thompsons lived in Antrim (3,711), Down (2,563), Dublin (806). Relative to population, the name was most concentrated in Down (84 per 10,000), Antrim (78 per 10,000), Fermanagh (62 per 10,000).

How common was the Thompson surname in Ireland?

11,666 people were recorded as Thompson in the 1911 census of Ireland, making it the 43rd most common surname. That is roughly 0.3% of the population, or 1 person in 376.

Looking for a Thompson ancestor?

Search every Thompson household in the 1901, 1911 and 1926 censuses, with free images of the original forms.

Search records on irishcensus.com

Evidence

Sources

  1. Wikipedia, Thompson (surname) (2026)
  2. Wikipedia, Thomson (surname) (2026)
  3. Patrick Woulfe, Mac Tómais, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  4. Patrick Woulfe, Mac Támhais, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  5. Patrick Woulfe, Mac Thómais, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  6. Patrick Woulfe, Tomás, in Irish Names and Surnames (1923)
  7. Wikipedia, Clan MacTavish (2026)
  8. Wikipedia, Clan MacThomas (2026)
  9. Wikipedia, Thompson, Norfolk (2026)
  10. Wikipedia, Plantation of Ulster (2026)
  11. Wikipedia, William Thompson (philosopher) (2026)
  12. Wikipedia, William Thompson (naturalist) (2026)
  13. Wikipedia, Sam Thompson (playwright) (2026)
  14. Sir Bernard Burke, The General Armory of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales (1884). Entries under 'Thompson', including Thompson of Clonskeagh Castle, co. Dublin.
  15. Wiktionary, Thompson
  16. Census of Ireland 1901 and 1911, and Census of Population 1926, National Archives of Ireland. Counts compiled by surnames.ie from the irishcensus.com transcription (dataset 20260831130351). 1926 data © National Archives of Ireland, CC BY 4.0.

How we compile these figures: methodology.