Thoms is a short patronymic from Thomas, and in Scotland it belongs almost entirely to one city. The Clan MacThomas Society puts it in a single line on its own page of associated names: "Thoms is peculiar to the area around Dundee in Angus."
In February 1905 two nephews and three nieces went to court to break the will of the best known man ever to carry it. George Hunter MacThomas Thoms had died in 1903 leaving roughly £60,000 to Kirkwall Town Council for the restoration of St Magnus Cathedral. His relatives alleged insanity and undue influence by his valet, Adam Melrose. The jury rejected the claim and the money stood.
Who Was Sheriff Thoms?
A Dundee lawyer who spent thirty years in the far north and gave his fortune to Orkney. Born on 3 June 1831, son of Grace Watt and Patrick Hunter Thoms, a Dundee merchant, he read law at Edinburgh, became Advocate Depute in 1862, and was Sheriff of Caithness, Orkney and Shetland from 1870 to 1899, serving at once as Vice-Admiral of Orkney and Shetland.
He never married, and was remembered for rubber-sided waistcoats and a schoolteacher's tawse, the kind of detail that survives when a will is contested. The cathedral does not name him on its history page; it credits "The Thoms Bequest" with the restoration of 1913 to 1930. Our piece on the Drever name in Orkney covers his islands.
Why Is the Name Concentrated Around Dundee?
Because the chiefly family of a Perthshire clan ended up there. The account of Clan MacThomas has the tenth chief taking the name Thomas and then Thoms and settling in northern Fife, the family afterward "moving back across the Tay to Dundee where the family, with interests in property and insurance, prospered as the population of Dundee doubled in the 18th century."
The civic record bears it out. Dundee City Council's chronicle of the burgh's office bearers lists Alexander Thoms as Provost in 1794 to 1796 and again in 1798 to 1800, and Patrick Hunter Thoms, the Sheriff's father, from 1847 to 1853. Two provosts is a showing for a name carried by fewer than three hundred people nationwide.
Is Thoms the Same Name as Thomson?
No, and the numbers make the point. The 1901 Scottish census returned 274 people named Thoms, ranked 1,794th, against 42,373 Thomsons, ranked 7th. They are separate surnames with separate histories, and a Thoms line will not be found by searching Thomson.
The MacThomas society is careful about Thomson for its own reason, warning that "many Thomsons come from Argyll in the west of Scotland and are likely to be originally MacTavishes." Our pieces on Thomson and Clan MacTavish follow that thread.
What Is the Clan Behind the Name?
Clan MacThomas of Glenshee, whose society traces the kindred to a fifteenth-century Highlander called Tomaidh Mòr, of Clan Chattan Mackintosh descent, who brought his people across the Grampians from Badenoch. The same society reckons Thom "the most usual of the MacThomas names," with Thoms as the Dundee form.
Hold that at the strength offered: it describes a family of names, not every bearer. Our pieces on Clan MacThomas, the Comb name and Clan Chattan set out the wider group.
Which Other Thomses Are Worth Knowing?
Patrick Thoms, born in Kilmacolm in 1873, left the most buildings: trained under Charles Ower in Dundee, a founder of Dundee College of Art, and from 1901 in practice with William Fleming Wilkie, putting churches, hotels and houses across eastern Scotland. His nephew Thomas Thoms later led the Royal Incorporation of Architects in Scotland. Our piece on Powrie Castle covers the same county.
How Do You Trace a Thoms Line?
- Begin in Dundee and the Angus parishes, then look to northern Fife, where the family came from.
- Search Thoms, Thom and Tam together, recording which form each register uses rather than standardizing them, and keep Thomson and Thompson out of it. Our piece on Mc versus Mac explains why spelling is evidence.
- Follow the professions. Provosts, advocates and architects leave burgh and court records the parish registers never held.
- Work back from a post-1855 certificate with our ScotlandsPeople guide.
Own a Piece of Thoms Heritage
Kirkwall got a cathedral roof out of this surname, and in 1905 a jury had to decide whether the man who paid for it had been in his right mind. Two pieces are made for Thoms, an ornament in a silver keepsake frame and a garden flag, family crest above a woven tartan background. Nothing has been recorded tying a pattern to this particular spelling, so the weave is a design decision; our explainer on tartan and who it belongs to gives the conventions.
Thoms Family Crest Framed Keepsake Ornament
Frequently Asked Questions About the Thoms Name
What does Thoms mean?
Son of Thomas, clipped. It sits beside Thom and Tam, not beside Thomson.
Is Thoms a Scottish clan?
Not on its own. There is no Clan Thoms and no chief of the name. The Clan MacThomas Society lists Thoms among its associated names and places it around Dundee.
Are Thoms and Thomson the same family?
No. Both are built on Thomas, but they are distinct surnames; the 1901 census counted 274 against 42,373.
Sources and Further Reading
- Clan MacThomas Society: associated names — Thoms around Dundee; the Thomson warning.
- Clan MacThomas Society: the clan — Tomaidh Mòr and Glenshee.
- Clan MacThomas — the tenth chief's change of name; the move to Dundee.
- George Hunter MacThomas Thoms — the shrievalty, bequest and 1905 jury trial.
- Dundee City Council: the city's office bearers — both Thoms provosts.
- St Magnus Cathedral, Kirkwall — "The Thoms Bequest" and the restoration.
- Patrick Thoms, architect — Dundee College of Art; the Wilkie partnership.
- Thoms in the 1901 Scottish census — 274 bearers, ranked 1,794th.
- Thomson in the 1901 Scottish census — 42,373 bearers, ranked 7th.
- ScotlandsPeople — Dundee, Angus and Fife registers.
Two provosts, one sheriff and 274 bearers in 1901 make a large civic footprint for a very small name. The Thoms range is here.