The baby name Tamsin offers a fresh update to mid-century Tammy, with a crisp, British sensibility.
Thanks to Fran for suggesting our Baby Name of the Day.
WHAT DOES THE NAME TAMSIN MEAN?
Classic boy’s name Thomas comes from Aramaic. It means twin.
The name belongs to one of the apostles in the New Testament. Thanks to the 12th century martyr Saint Thomas a Becket, the name has long been among the most common choices in England.
That’s before we factor in other figures from Thomas Jefferson to Tom Sawyer to Thomas Edison to Tommy Shelby.
But what’s the feminine form of Thomas?
Names like Tomasa and Tomine occur in some languages. Tommie could be the equivalent of Billie or Stevie.
But the textbook answer? Thomasina.
Which is contracted to … yup, you guessed it! Tamsin.
Or Tamzin or Tamsen or choose-your-preferred-spelling.
But typically, it’s T-A-M-S-I-N.
WHAT ABOUT TAMMY?
From 1966 through 1971, Tammy ranked in the US Top Ten. That puts it solidly it mom and grandma-name territory now.
It’s strongly tied to pop culture. A series of movies and television shows, starting with 1957’s Tammy and the Bachelor gave the name to a particular type of romantic heroine. Actress Debbie Reynolds starred as the title character and recorded the single “Tammy,” which became a hit.
Did Tammy come from Tamsin or Thomasina? Maybe … the movie character was Tambrey. Names like Tamara and Tamala also lagged behind Tammy in the US.
Other Tam- names include the Hebrew Tamar meaning “date palm.” And the Slavic form of Tamar, Tamara, is another option. Both seem a little more sophisticated and potentially less time-stamped than Tammy.
Interestingly, even at peak-Tammy, Tamsin was scarcely heard in the US.
FAMOUS FIGURES NAMED TAMSIN
Of course, Americans have never had a lot of places to hear the name. Most of the uses are British, including:
- In Thomas Hardy’s 1878 Return of the Native, one of the main characters is Thomasin, often called Tamsin.
- In 1964, Disney’s The Three Lives of Thomasina adapted a 1957 novel about a rather special cat and her family.
- British actresses Tamsin Egerton and Tamsin Grieg come to mind, as do Tamzin Outhwaite and Tamzin Merchant.
- Canada television series Lost Girl also gave us a Tamsin.
HOW POPULAR IS THE NAME TAMSIN?
In the UK, the baby name Tamsin had a good run in the twentieth century. It’s particularly favored in Cornwall. But given the success of the boy’s name Thomas, it tracks that feminine forms of the name would be popular, too.
American parents never warmed to the name Tamsin.
In 1955, the name debuted in US popularity data, with five births.
The baby name Tamsin peaked in 2017, with 27 births.
That’s still incredibly rare.
Tamzin is even less familiar, and while Thomasina was once used in reasonable numbers, it’s all-but-forgotten now.
In 2024, just seven girls were named Tamsin in the US.
All of that means the baby name Tamsin is vaguely familiar in a British import way – and almost astonishingly rare.
POLISHED RARITY
Overall, the baby name Tamsin strikes the right note between sweet and sophisticated. There’s a polish to this name. While it reads differently in the UK, in the US it’s a timeless rarity – maybe vaguely familiar, maybe subject to lots of spelling and correcting.
But it could wear very nicely on a daughter, a name in the key of Marlowe or Maren.
What do you think of the baby name Tamsin?
This post was originally published on April 7, 2011. It was revised and re-posted on April 22, 2013 and again on February 24, 2026.
I just named my beloved little cat Tamsin Maeve and some of her nicknames are Tamsy, Tansy, Tea, Tess, and Tessie.
Tamsin (and Tamzin and Tamsyn etc) is fairly common here, but mostly with people around my age – I can’t remember the last time I saw a young child with the name.
It sounds as if it’s still quite fresh in the US, and might even seem striking.
Love, love, love Tamsin!!
However.. my daughter’s name is Teagan.. would Tamsin be too close?
It sounds great, but only if you never have a third daughter. Otherwise, it would be Teagan, Tamsin, and … Torrance? Tilden?
Taryn?
I knew a Tamsen in college. It was my first and so far only real-life association with the name. She was arty and interesting so it’s a name that conjures up that sort of person for me. I like its trim, neat, no-frills femininity.
Hehe, you should try living in Cornwall. There are hundreds of Tamsins down here! But although I like it, it feels dated to me because most Tamsins I know are 30+ (I mentally class it as a ‘mum’ name, like Michelle, Lisa, Tracey etc).
As for it being Cornish- I’m still not sure. I’ve done a lot of research on Cornish names and Tamsin has certainly been perennially popular here. I’ve found records of Tamsins as far as the records go back- to the early 1500s at least. It may well be that Tamsin has English origins, but, like Digory, it was adopted by Cornwall in the middle ages and has been in vogue ever since 🙂
I love Tamsin, but it sounds a bit funny with our surname which also begins with T, and it doesn’t really work in French. Too bad.
I know a Tamsyn, and while I’m not generally a fan of Ys used to replace Is, I really like the look of that spelling.
I very much dislike Thomas but I like Tamsin and Thomasin very much.
I like non-a-ending, non-frilly girls names. Tamsin fits in nicely with Branwen, Caitlin, Morgan, and Tamar. I do love Tamar that bit more but I don’t think the pronunciation I’d want – tuh-MAR, is necessarily what I’d get, and Tamsin is simpler that way.
I don’t mind Tammy as a nickname. For Thomasin I’d use Tommy, though. I’m not sure if Tommy works for Tamsin or not.
thanks
im called tamsin and i think it is great
xxx
It is one of my favorites, too!
I’ve always liked this name although it’s also always seemed too far from my experience to use.
I LOVE the name Tamsin. Love love love. It’s feminine, elegant and has plenty of historical background (aka it’s a real name that has seen centuries of consistent, if not popular, use). It also still manages to sound modern and spunky.