Thompson (surname)
Thompson is a patronymic surname of English and Scottish origin, with a variety of spellings meaning "son of Thom". An alternative origin may be geographical, arising from the placename Thompson. Thom(p)son is the English translation of MacTavish, which is the Anglicized Gaelic translation of MacTamhais. During the Plantation period, settlers carried the name to Ireland. It is the 14th most common surname in the United Kingdom and 17th most common in the United States. According to the 1990 United States Census, Thompson was the seventeenth most frequently reported surname, accounting for 0.27% of the population.
Notable people with the surname
Addison Roswell Thompson (1911-1976), Louisiana segregationist politician
Ahmir Khalib Thompson (born 1971), aka Questlove, African-American musician, DJ, and record producer
Andrew Thompson (manager) (1845–1895), baseball manager
Archie Thompson (born 1978), Australian football (soccer) player for Melbourne Victory
Ben Thompson (lawman) (1842–1884), gunfighter and gambler