Thompson is a surname of English, Irish and Scottish origin which is a variant of Thomson, meaning 'son of Thom'.
[3] An alternative origin may be geographical, arising from the parish of Thompson in Norfolk.
[4] During the Plantation period, settlers carried the name to Ireland.
Thom(p)son is also the English translation of MacTavish, which is the Anglicised version of the Gaelic name MacTamhais.
[5] According to the 2010 United States Census, Thompson was the 23rd most frequently reported surname, accounting for 0.23% of the population.