Daily AncestorThos.
Thos. is an old abbreviation of the first name Thomas, common in deeds, wills, church registers and census pages.
Thos. is a clerk's shorthand for the given name Thomas. Writers shortened common first names to save time and ink, usually by keeping the first letters and the last one or two, often with the final letters raised above the line.
Older hands sometimes wrote it with a small raised s. It survives in a few company names today. In records it is simply Thomas, not a surname or a nickname.
As seen in a recordGrantor line of a deed
Thos. Reed and Mary his wife
How to cite this page
Daily Ancestor. "Thos.." Dictionary of Old Record Words. https://dailyancestor.com/dictionary/abbreviations/thos. Last checked 2026-10-01.