WARREN THOMAS

Transferred use of the surname, which is of Norman origin, a coalescence of two different surnames, one derived from a Germanic personal name based on the element war(in) ‘guard’ and the other from a place in Normandy called La Varenne ‘the game park’. The Norman personal name survived at least into the 17th century in Yorkshire, where it was particularly associated with the Scargill family. In America this name has sometimes been chosen in honour of General Joseph Warren, the first hero of the American Revolution, who was killed at Bunker Hill (1775). Among modern influences on the choice of the name has been the film actor Warren Beatty (b. 1937).

English, French, German, Dutch, Danish, and South Indian: from the medieval personal name, of Biblical origin, from Aramaic t’ōm’a, a byname meaning ‘twin’. It was borne by one of the disciples of Christ, best known for his scepticism about Christ's resurrection (John 20:24–29). The th- spelling is organic, the initial letter of the name in the Greek New Testament being a theta. The English pronunciation as t rather than th- is the result of French influence from an early date. In Britain the surname is widely distributed throughout the country, but especially common in Wales and Cornwall. The Ukrainian form is Choma. It is found as a personal name among Christians in India, and in the U.S. is used as a family name among families from southern India.