# What does Th. mean in a name? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 29, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257 "2011-06-29T14:03:28Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 2:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/1 "2011-06-29T14:03:28Z")
Obituary today about Dr. Steve Th. Richard in the paper. He was from Haiti. I can’t seem to find any explanation of what the Th. in the middle of his name stands for. Any help, Dopers? xo, C. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/2 "2011-06-29T14:05:07Z")
Thomas. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 2:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/3 "2011-06-29T14:07:14Z")
Thanks. Any explanation of how or why that one particular name gets initialized by two letters? ---
**Author:** ![BetsQ](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/fbc32d/32.png) [@BetsQ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BetsQ)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 2:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/4 "2011-06-29T14:18:08Z")
I think it’s common among traditional, English names. Like Wm is short for William, or Chas is short for Charles. Here’s a [list](http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Appendix:Abbreviations_for_English_given_names). Incidentally, they list Thomas as Thos. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/5 "2011-06-29T14:24:06Z")
I am familiar with a number of those abbreviations. I have never seen any of them used as a middle initial, however. It is particularly peculiar to me inasmuch as it implies a formality that is strangely lacking in listing his first name as Steve, not Steven. Oh, well. ---
**Author:** ![yabob](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yabob/32/2821_2.png) [@yabob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yabob)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/6 "2011-06-29T14:30:22Z")
Th is ambiguous. It could be Theodore, which that list gives as “Theo”. Thomas is a much more common name these days, of course. There were probably more Theodores when the conventions were being established. ---
**Author:** ![El\_Zagna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/d2c977/32.png) [@El\_Zagna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/El_Zagna)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 2:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/7 "2011-06-29T14:42:05Z")
…and why is Thomas pronounced with a hard T? ---
**Author:** ![Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/dbc845/32.png) [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Michael_of_Lucan)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 2:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/8 "2011-06-29T14:55:34Z")
> [@El\_Zagna](#): > > …and why is Thomas pronounced with a hard T? ?? Not where I come from. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/9 "2011-06-29T14:57:20Z")
> [@El\_Zagna](#): > > …and why is Thomas pronounced with a hard T? Borrowed from some other language and preserved the spelling. English is unique in pronouncing “th” the way it does. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/10 "2011-06-29T15:05:22Z")
> [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](#): > > ?? Not where I come from. > [@John\_Mace](#): > > Borrowed from some other language and preserved the spelling. English is unique in pronouncing “th” the way it does. These comments seem a little bit ambiguous to me. The usual pronunciation of “Thomas” in English-language-majority countries is ['tɒməs] (with considerable variation on the first vowel). I’ve never heard a native English speaker treat the _th_ as a regular _th_ digraph in English \*['θɒməs]. In Indian English, the _th_ digraph is usually handled as an aspirated unvoiced dental plosive – [t̪ʰɔmas] I don’t know where the _Th_ comes from in the English version of the name. I don’t think it appears in any other language’s version of the name Thomas. ---
**Author:** ![Zeldar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/b77776/32.png) [@Zeldar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zeldar)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/11 "2011-06-29T15:32:50Z")
I can accept that if you ran some sort of frequency distribution on names starting TH that Thomas would get most hits, but it doesn’t automatically work when there are so many others with plenty of instances like: Theodore Thaddeus Theophilus Thelonious or others from [this list](http://www.thinkbabynames.com/beginning/1/Th) ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 3:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/12 "2011-06-29T15:42:07Z")
The writer Th. Metzger is a Thomas who started using the Th. abbreviation because of another writing Thomas Metzger, the one who is a white nationalist. ---
**Author:** ![Kizarvexius](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/da6949/32.png) [@Kizarvexius](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kizarvexius)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2011, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/13 "2011-06-29T22:27:23Z")
As part of my job I view academic documents from all parts of the world. Abbreviation of given names is unusual, but not unique to English. Clients from Islamic countries will often abbreviate the name Mohammad as “Md”, for example. It’s also fairly common to see the name Maria abbreviated as “Ma”. ---
**Author:** ![Northern\_Piper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/northern_piper/32/5304_2.png) [@Northern\_Piper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Northern_Piper)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/14 "2011-06-30T02:27:44Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > I don’t know where the _Th_ comes from in the English version of the name. I don’t think it appears in any other language’s version of the name Thomas. According to [this site](http://www.behindthename.com/name/thomas), “Thomas” is of Aramaic origin: תָּאוֹמָא. It was [transliterated into Greek](http://www.behindthename.com/support/transcribe.php?type=MG,GR&target=T%5Ewmas) with a Theta as the initial letter: Θωμας Which in turn was transliterated into “Thomas” in the Latin alphabet. Note that “[Theta](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theta#Greek)” has changed in pronunciation in two millenia: > [@](#): > > In Ancient Greek, θ represented the aspirated voiceless dental plosive /t̪ʰ/, but in Modern Greek it represents the voiceless dental fricative /θ/. So when it was transliterated into Latin, “Thomas” was likely a fair approximation of how it was pronounced in Greek then. Is it still spelt “Θωμας” in modern Greek? ---
**Author:** ![RadicalPi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/radicalpi/32/9806_2.png) [@RadicalPi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RadicalPi)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/15 "2011-06-30T04:33:49Z")
Also, since you mentioned Haiti, is that using a two-letter initial is fairly common in French when the first letter is a consonant and the second is an H. So, names like Charles and Philippe will often become Ch. and Ph, even when everyone else’s name gets just the one letter. ---
**Author:** ![Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eyebrows_0f_doom/32/3119_2.png) [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Eyebrows_0f_Doom)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/16 "2011-06-30T05:32:22Z")
> [@Michael\_of\_Lucan](#): > > ?? Not where I come from. 😕 You say the \*th \*in “Thomas” like the \*th \*in “thumb”? I have never heard that anywhere, ever. That sounds like some kind of lisp. Where is it you’re talking about? ---
**Author:** ![Bear\_Nenno](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bear_nenno/32/3358_2.png) [@Bear\_Nenno](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bear_Nenno)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/17 "2011-06-30T05:53:33Z")
I think it stands for “ther”, like in “Winnie th. Pooh”. Don’t you know what “ther” means? ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/18 "2011-06-30T13:58:22Z")
> [@RadicalPi](#): > > Also, since you mentioned Haiti, is that using a two-letter initial is fairly common in French when the first letter is a consonant and the second is an H. So, names like Charles and Philippe will often become Ch. and Ph, even when everyone else’s name gets just the one letter. Ah, now this is closer to an answer to my question. Thank you. ---
**Author:** ![jjimm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba8739/32.png) [@jjimm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jjimm)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/19 "2011-06-30T14:06:57Z")
> [@Eyebrows\_0f\_Doom](#): > > 😕 You say the \*th \*in “Thomas” like the \*th \*in “thumb”? I have never heard that anywhere, ever. That sounds like some kind of lisp. Where is it you’re talking about? This is very common in Ireland, which is where I presume **Michael of Lucan** is from (Lucan being a suburb of Dublin). I always put it down to an overcompensation for the common Irish pronunciation of “D” or “T” for “TH” - “dis, dat, dese and dose” for “this, that, these and those”. I have also heard many Irish people talk about “Thigh-land” for “Thailand” and the river “Thems” for “Thames”. Having said that, this perception of mine is probably overly anglocentric and such pronunciation is correct, and we’re the ones who are wrong. ---
**Author:** ![bordelond](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bordelond/32/150_2.png) [@bordelond](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bordelond)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2011, 2:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257/20 "2011-06-30T14:29:17Z")
> [@Northern\_Piper](#): > > Is it still spelt “Θωμας” in modern Greek? [Yes](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_(name)), though another borrowed form exits, viz. Τουμάζος. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-does-th-mean-in-a-name/587257.md?page=2)