# What the hell does fifth third mean? What's that bank name mean? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [August 25, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-fifth-third-mean-whats-that-bank-name-mean/632547 "2012-08-25T00:00:26Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 12:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-fifth-third-mean-whats-that-bank-name-mean/632547/1 "2012-08-25T00:00:26Z")
Just that - what could that name refer to? It’s not like the first national or second national bank. 5/3? Is the fraction sign ificant? It’s like a corporate logo for the financial industry. WTF? ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 12:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-fifth-third-mean-whats-that-bank-name-mean/632547/2 "2012-08-25T00:01:20Z")
Oddly enough [Cecil](http://www.straightdope.com/columns/read/2336/what-gives-with-fifth-third-bank) has covered this. ---
**Author:** ![Ambivalid](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/a5b964/32.png) [@Ambivalid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ambivalid)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-fifth-third-mean-whats-that-bank-name-mean/632547/3 "2012-08-25T00:56:01Z")
> [@CC](#): > > Just that - what could that name refer to? It’s not like the first national or second national bank. 5/3? Is the fraction sign ificant? It’s like a corporate logo for the financial industry. WTF? I’m guessing it’s the merger of two different banks. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 1:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-fifth-third-mean-whats-that-bank-name-mean/632547/4 "2012-08-25T01:11:12Z")
> [@Ambivalid](#): > > I’m guessing it’s the merger of two different banks. From Wikipedia: > [@](#): > > Fifth Third’s unusual name is the result of the June 1, 1908 merger of Third National Bank and Fifth National Bank, to become the Fifth Third National Bank of Cincinnati.[4] While Third National was the senior partner, the merger took place during a period when prohibitionist ideas were gaining popularity, it is legend that “Fifth Third” was better than “Third Fifth,” which could be construed as a reference to three “fifths” of alcohol.[5] The name went through several changes over the years until, on March 24, 1969, it was changed to Fifth Third Bank.[4] ---
**Author:** ![Ethilrist](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ethilrist/32/4604_2.png) [@Ethilrist](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ethilrist)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-fifth-third-mean-whats-that-bank-name-mean/632547/5 "2012-08-25T01:13:42Z")
Huh. And all this time I thought it was the fifth bank that wanted to call itself Third Bank. Go figure. ---
**Author:** ![Sunspace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sunspace/32/1250_2.png) [@Sunspace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sunspace)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-fifth-third-mean-whats-that-bank-name-mean/632547/6 "2012-08-25T01:34:21Z")
So why did they name banks that way? “fifth national bank of \”? Were they federally regulated? Were there also banks regulated by the states? Was there a requirement that they be numbered? ---
**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:** [August 25, 2012, 2:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-fifth-third-mean-whats-that-bank-name-mean/632547/7 "2012-08-25T02:01:11Z")
> [@Sunspace](#): > > So why did they name banks that way? “fifth national bank of \”? Were they federally regulated? Were there also banks regulated by the states? Was there a requirement that they be numbered? Long story short, banks could be chartered by states or by the feds. State banking regulations tended to be rather lax and those banks could easily fail. Since federal regs were stricter, they were seen as sounder and more reliable. Calling yourself a National Bank (or sometimes Federal Bank: there was a local First Federal Savings and Loan in the past) was public advertising that you were under a federal charter. If you were the fifth bank in Cincinnati to obtain a federal charter, you might call yourself the Fifth National Bank. Why not the Cincinnati National Bank? That I don’t know. I’m pretty sure that individually named banks existed: Citizens National was a common name. But the time period might have been later. In the beginning, it might have been required to just give a number or it may just have been the custom of the time. The lowness of the numbers indicated that not too many banks went through the hoops to get a federal charter. It may also indicate that others did give themselves individual names. ---
**Author:** ![Mr\_Downtown](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/8e8cbc/32.png) [@Mr\_Downtown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr_Downtown)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-fifth-third-mean-whats-that-bank-name-mean/632547/8 "2012-08-25T04:38:26Z")
Custom of the time, as far as I can tell. Fifth is the highest bank ordinal I’ve ever seen. For churches _other than Christian Science_ I never seen anything higher than Tenth Presbyterian (Philadelphia). ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 5:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-fifth-third-mean-whats-that-bank-name-mean/632547/9 "2012-08-25T05:24:01Z")
Here’s a page showing the [history of New York bank name changes](http://www.scripophily.com/nybankhistorys.htm). They had a Sixth and Seventh National Bank, no Eighth, or Ninth. Perhaps the obsession with ‘number one-ness’ hadn’t taken the nation the way it has now. You can see in the history that some of these names didn’t last long, maybe a catchy name wasn’t the only thing they were lacking. ---
**Author:** ![Sahirrnee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sahirrnee/32/13937_2.png) [@Sahirrnee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sahirrnee)\ **Post date:** [August 25, 2012, 8:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-fifth-third-mean-whats-that-bank-name-mean/632547/10 "2012-08-25T08:09:45Z")
Back in the olden days when I was a teller and “Savings and Loans” and “Banks” were different entities, there were laws in place to keep them from stepping on each others turf. If a “Bank” was federally insured (FDIC) they had to have “National” in their name, if a “Savings and Loan” was federally insured (FSLIC) they had to have “Federal” in their name. At that time your savings was insured up to a whopping $40,000. Customers who reached the max would spread their money across multiple Savings and Loans. ---
**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:** [August 25, 2012, 2:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-the-hell-does-fifth-third-mean-whats-that-bank-name-mean/632547/11 "2012-08-25T14:53:09Z")
> [@sahirrnee](#): > > Back in the olden days when I was a teller and “Savings and Loans” and “Banks” were different entities, there were laws in place to keep them from stepping on each others turf. If a “Bank” was federally insured (FDIC) they had to have “National” in their name, if a “Savings and Loan” was federally insured (FSLIC) they had to have “Federal” in their name. So that’s the distinction. Cool. Thanks for mentioning it.