Toombs
An English surname most likely from the name Tom, later sometimes spelled with an intrusive -b; some sources also connect it to St. Omer.
The #6,977 most common surname in the United States (2010 Census) — about 1 in every 64,242 Americans shares it.
Etymology
The strongest evidence treats Toombs as a variant of Tombs/Tom, built on the pet form Tom of Thomas, with a later intrusive b in the spelling. That makes it a patronymic surname meaning, in effect, "son or family of Tom." Some 19th-century writers also suggested a separate local origin from St. Omer (French Saint-Omer, medieval St. Audomar), but that explanation appears less likely for this spelling family overall.
History
The surname is recorded in medieval and early modern English sources in several close spellings, including Tombs, Toms, and Toombs. It spread through England and later appears in North American records as well. A minority tradition in older surname books linked some forms to Norman place-name origins, so the name’s history is not always entirely uniform across every family line.
Origin
Regions
Variant spellings
Fun fact
Older surname dictionaries often debated whether Toombs was really a Tom-based patronymic or a surname ultimately tied to the Norman town of Saint-Omer.
From the historical record
“TOOMBS for Tom(e)8, q.v. TOOMER is f. the North. Fr. place-name St. Omer, anc. St. Audomar, with the t of St. attracted to the pers. name [the pers. name isa compound of O.Ger. aud{=0.^. au'S-r = O.Sax. dd=O.E. edd), prosperity, wealth, happiness, and mdri ( = O.E. mcere), famous] William de St. Omero. — Hund. Rolls.”
— Surnames of the United Kingdom: a concise etymological dictionary (2 vols in 1)