- Thomas
- from Gk. Thomas, of Aramaic origin and said to mean "a twin" (John's gospel refers to Thomas as ho legomenos didymos "called the twin;" cf. Syriac toma "twin," Arabic tau'am "twin"). Before the Conquest, found only as the name of a priest. After 1066, one of the most common given names. Doubting Thomas is from John xx:25; A Thomist (1533, from M.L. Thomista, 1359) is a follower of 13c. scholastic theologian St. Thomas Aquinas. (Also see Tom, Tommy).