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.
Does anyone use Zoya nail polish? It’s a brand with nail polish named after women’s names. Anyway, I’m obsessed with the brand and they just released a tomato-red shade called Tamsen. This made me fall in love with the name Tamsin, because to me it now matches the color of the polish. It’s also quirky, underused (in US at least?), and fabulous. I think it’s along the same lines as Pippa. Love it.
It may be that Tamsin is not a Cornish name but a name that developed from the English language feminine forms of Thomas that were used throughout Britain during the Middle Ages.
The Oxford Dictionary of English Christian Names (UK, 1945) : “Thomasin(e) (f): diminutive of Thomas, found from the middle of the 14th C… Lyford, 1655 [Edward Lyford, “The True Interpretation of Christian Names”, 1655] gives it as Thamasin or Thomasin. As Tamsine or Tamsin it still survives in Cornwall.”
Oxford Dictionary of First Names (UK, 2006) – Tamsin: Contracted form of Latinate Thomasina, a feminine form of Thomas. This was relatively common throughout Britain in the Middle Ages, but confined to Cornwall immediately before its recent revival.”
According to the Penguin Reference Dictionary of First Names (UK, 2004), “Tamsin has enjoyed a considerable vogue in popularity since the 1950s.”
In 2009 only 9 baby girls born in the USA were given the name Tamsin (Thomasina, also 9; Tamzin, not in the SSA ‘beyond’ data), while in England/Wales 80 girls were named Tamsin (Tamzin, 66; Thomasina, 4).
As a fan of the sweet children’s film “The Three Lives of Thomasina”, I’ve always liked the names Thomasina and Tamsin and associated them with Scotland, but I can see now that these names were used throughout Britain. And apparently the names are currently out of fashion in Scotland, where in 2009 no girls were named Thomasina, with only 3 named Tamsin and 10 named Tamzin.
I agree that Tamsin is perfect for someone who wants a non-frilly, almost unisex sounding name for a girl. I immediately thought of mentioning Tamsin to an acquaintance who likes Sawyer for a future daughter (but who’s brother has his eye on that name as well). I like that it ISN”T unisex but that it still provides the lack of frills many parents are seeking these days.
I think Tamsin is spunky and fun, and while its not my style, I can see it appealing to a wide range of modern parents.
Great way to put it Amanda: NOT unisex “but still provides the lack of frills”! I will definitely keep Tamsin in mind for expectant parents considering unisex style names 🙂
I’ve secretly loved Thomasina ever since reading Tom Stoppard’s Arcadia. The heroine is Thomasina Coverly, a young math genius, and she totally won me over to the name. I wish I liked Tamsin more since I think it’s much more usable but for some reason, it just doesn’t appeal. I think it’s because I tend to nickname and Tami is the most obvious choice. As you say, the Tammy names are terribly dated. Still, Tamsin could be an interesting choice for a baby today.
Awesome play! I was charmed by Thomasina as well, but like you said, it doesn’t seem entirely wearable.
Growing up I used to spend summers with my Grandmother Spencer in Surrey and one of my best female friends was a girl named Pippa whose mom was named Tamsin. I always thought her name sounded hippyish.
Pippa had a brother named Freddy that I had a mad crush on so Frederick is a name I adore but my husband says it is too geeky.
I like Tamsin quite well. She’s a great pick for someone who wants something uncommon and non-frilly. I’m not into nicknames so I like her in full.
Yeah, I don’t know. It sounds too close to Thomson. It just doesn’t sound like a girl name; it’s more of a Jordan or Madison or one of those adopted names, IMO.
I’ll pass.
I love Tamsin! But then, despite no family Thomas’, I find Thomasina completly charming. If I could talk Him into it, Thomasina/Tams(in) would be Josie’s sister. As is, we’re rethinking ALL the girls on our list!
Tamsin’s great, snappy, sweet and pretty, all in 6 little letters. Awesome!
Ick. When I first saw it I read it as Tasmin -like Jasmine with a T. Tamsin doesn’t seem like much of an improvement. I’d like it more if it were Tamson (or similar) for a boy. Personally, I like Tamara and Tammy (I know someone my age, mid-twenties, with the name so it doesn’t seem too dated). Tamsin is just to ‘hard’ of a name.
I got horribly sick the first day I studied abroad in London, and the woman that took me to the hospital and bought me some medicine was named Tamsin. That’s the first time I had heard of the name.