Tamzin

 Tamzin is an alternate spelling of Tamsin (Tamsyn, Tamsen, Tamzen) which developed among the Brythonic Celts in Cornwall (England) as a contracted form of Thomasina. Thomasina, in turn, is the medieval female form of the popular masculine name Thomas.  The name Thomas comes from the New Testament, borne by one of Jesus’ 12 apostles and one to whom Christ appeared after his resurrection.  According to John 20:24: “Now Thomas, one of the Twelve, called the Twin, was not with them when Jesus came…But he said to them, ‘Unless I see in his hands the mark of the nails, and place my finger into the mark of the nails, and place my hand into his side, I will never believe.’”  Eight days later Jesus appeared directly to Thomas himself; and this time, Thomas believed. However, he was henceforth referred to as “Doubting Thomas” since he had to be convinced of Jesus’ resurrection. Who can blame the guy? It was this “doubting” quality that humanized the Biblical character and popularized the name in Christendom.  Thomas comes from the Greek “Didymus” (from the Aramaic Ta’oma) which means “twin” (although there is no evidence that St. Thomas the Apostle was a twin himself). Originally, the name Thomas was mainly used by priests until Western Europeans were exposed to it during the Crusades. By the 12th century, Thomas was quite popular throughout England; in part, popularized by the English martyr Thomas Becket, an archbishop of Canterbury who was killed by a couple of King Henry II’s knights on the church altar while giving a sermon.  Thomasina eventually came into circulation as a female name, and the Cornish people contracted that to Tamsin (which would eventually spawn alternate spellings like Tamzin).