Meaning and background
The story behind Tom
Tom is a familiar English short form of Thomas, a name that ultimately passes through Greek from Aramaic and is associated with “twin”. There is also a distinct Hebrew given name written Tom, linked with ideas of completion, innocence or simplicity. These are separate naming traditions, so a single unqualified meaning would be misleading. As a dog call, Tom is exceptionally brief.
- Origin
- English short form of Thomas; independently also a Hebrew given name תּוֹם with a different lexical background. Source
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About Tom
Recorded as a dog’s name
Tom appears in 18 dog licence records in the 2026 New York City dataset.
How to read this count
These records cover New York City and may count the same dog in more than one licence period. They are not a national popularity ranking.
Pronunciation and rhythm
/tɑm/
US English sound sequence, converted from the CMU dictionary. Stress marks are shown separately.
Stress on the first syllable in the recorded US readings.
View dictionary notation
/tɑm/ · primary stress on syllable 1T AA1 M
These are US dictionary readings. Personal, regional and other language pronunciations may differ.
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Sources and research notes (2)
- New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene NYC Dog Licensing Dataset — extract_year 2026 — Dog licence periods, not unique dogs; NYC only. No owner-level fields retrieved.
- Carnegie Mellon University / CMU Sphinx maintainers CMU US English Pronouncing Dictionary — US English dictionary readings; not owner-specific or exhaustive multilingual pronunciation
References support the individual facts shown. A source link does not mean the entire profile has been verified.