Tam
A short surname that can be a form of Tom/Thomas or a local name linked to the River Tame/Thame.
The #2,703 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 23,167 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The surname Tam is most plausibly a short form of Thomas, via the familiar nickname Tam. Some historical sources also connect it with place-names and river-names such as Tame or Thame, which were explained as meaning “quiet” or “placid” in older Celtic analysis. In practice, the surname may have arisen independently in more than one way, especially as a nickname-derived or local surname.
History
Nineteenth- and early-twentieth-century surname dictionaries treat Tam mainly as a northern English form related to Thomas, alongside fuller surnames such as Tamlin, Tamplin, and Tammage. They also note a local connection with the River Tame or Thame and a recorded medieval bearer, John de Tame of Oxfordshire. Because the evidence is sparse, the surname is best understood as a small cluster of related forms rather than a single fixed origin everywhere.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Old surname books even glossed Tam as a North-country form of Tom, showing how a very short nickname could become a hereditary surname.
From the historical record
“Talmadge TAM, a North, form of T(h)om, q.v. TAMBLIN 1 North, forms (with intrus. -J-) of TAMBLYN J Tomlin, q.v. TAME (Celt.) Bel. to Thame ; or Dweller by the R. Tame or Thame [O.Celt, tdm, quiet, placid] John de Tame (Oxon)— /7«»i. Soils.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)