The Toms River is a 41.7-mile-long freshwater river and estuary in Ocean County, New Jersey. It was known as Goose Creek until the early 18th century, when it was renamed after ferryman Thomas Luker, who ran ferries across the creek. It rises in the Pine Barrens of northern Ocean County and flows through the wetlands and into Barnegat Bay, an inlet of the Atlantic Ocean. Toms River and South Toms River are named for the river.