# Where did the name 'Trey' come from? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 22, 2004, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294 "2004-07-22T03:29:17Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![PaulFitzroy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/2acd7d/32.png) [@PaulFitzroy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PaulFitzroy)\ **Post date:** [July 22, 2004, 11:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/21 "2004-07-22T23:55:06Z")
> [@](#): > > Were the Chads you refer to really Chads, or were they Charleses? Two Chads I grew up with had “Chadwick” as their first name. A third had “Chadley.” ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/22 "2004-07-23T00:16:22Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > I think “Trey” is a once regional name that has since spread, although I have no specific data to that efect. The variant spelling T-R-E is definitely black. Not necessarily. I had a friend named Tre who was even whiter than I am (and that’s pretty damn white). And again, his family used it because he was the 3rd. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 2:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/23 "2004-07-23T02:20:20Z")
As others have noted, in the past, “Trey” was almost always a nickname, indicating that someone was the third person in his family history to hold a name. If Quentin Edgar Dimwit named his son after himself, that boy would be Quentin Edgar Dimwit Junior. If he had a grandson by that name, the boy would be Quentin Edgar Dimwit III. And Quentin III would be nicknamed “Trey.” Or, in many parts of the South, he’d be called “Trip.” But over the years, people have forgotten the origins of the name “Trey.” So, while a 50 year old man who’s called “Trey” is undoubtedly named Something Something the Third, that frequently is NOT the case among younger guys with that name. Nowadays, a teenager named Trey may very well have “Trey” on his birth certificate- like as not, his Mom had heard the name and liked the sound of it, without knowing what its connotations used to be. ---
**Author:** ![Anonymous\_Coward](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/94ad74/32.png) [@Anonymous\_Coward](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anonymous_Coward)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 11:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/24 "2004-07-23T11:09:16Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > I always thought Chad was a nickname for Charles, not that there seem to be many Charleses today. Were the Chads you refer to really Chads, or were they Charleses? I’ve heard of Chas and Chuck as a nickname for Charles, but never Chad. 😕 As an aside, I used to piss off my friend’s mom when I called up and asked to speak to “Chuck”. Everyone else called him Charles except for me. Peppermint Patty anyone? ---
**Author:** ![Askia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/96bed5/32.png) [@Askia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askia)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 11:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/25 "2004-07-23T11:44:32Z")
> [@SolGrundy](#): > > Not necessarily. I had a friend named Tre who was even whiter than I am (and that’s pretty damn white). And again, his family used it because he was the 3rd. Restated: T-r-e is the preferred spelling of “Trey” for many American black males, as a name indicating a III or a nickname. ---
**Author:** ![sugaree](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/cc9497/32.png) [@sugaree](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sugaree)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 12:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/26 "2004-07-23T12:07:53Z")
My Imaginary Celebrity Boyfriend Trey Anastasio is somewhere around forty. He is also a III- Ernest Guiseppe Anastasio III. I see why he’d prefer Trey. A friend of mine has an under-10 nephew nicknamed Trey (or maybe Tre). He is black, and Trey is the second syllable of his first name. I can’t for the life of me remember what his name really is. My husband and I are considering the Trey if we ever have a little boy. It still sounds good if we yell it at top volume fifteen times. And it goes well with our last name. ---
**Author:** ![vetbridge](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b5e925/32.png) [@vetbridge](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/vetbridge)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 5:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/27 "2004-07-23T17:05:37Z")
Thirteen years and 10 months ago my daughter was named Breanna. We heard it on a TV commercial and liked it on the spot. Musta been a popular commercial, because two of my daughters friends have the same name. ---
**Author:** ![CC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f1d935/32.png) [@CC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CC)\ **Post date:** [July 23, 2004, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/28 "2004-07-23T22:42:46Z")
> [@Spectre of Pithecanthropus](#): > > I always thought Chad was a nickname for Charles, not that there seem to be many Charleses today. Were the Chads you refer to really Chads, or were they Charleses? I’m older than 25 (by too far). I can tell you that Chad is not a nickname for Charles. The common ones are Chuck (and Chucker), Charlie and Chaz (the pronounced Chas.) And, if my older sister is any guide, there’s also Stupid. ---
**Author:** ![inyaface22](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/ba8739/32.png) [@inyaface22](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/inyaface22)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/29 "2013-11-19T14:11:20Z")
well im white and my name is trey and im 14 my accual name is Arthur Melvin Kottcamp III ---
**Author:** ![BubbaDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bubbadog/32/333_2.png) [@BubbaDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BubbaDog)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/30 "2013-11-19T14:37:21Z")
This thread is only 5 years younger than you are. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/31 "2013-11-19T16:40:03Z")
Welcome to the SDMB, **inyaface22**. I hope you enjoy your time here. How did you chance to come across this thread? I know, I know; he’s fourteen; he’s likely to come across anything he sees. Let’s get our minds out of the gutter… ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 4:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/32 "2013-11-19T16:50:01Z")
> [@inyaface22](#): > > well im white and my name is trey and im 14 my accual name is Arthur Melvin Kottcamp III I can see why you decided to go by Trey. ---
**Author:** ![johnspartan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/a183cd/32.png) [@johnspartan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/johnspartan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/33 "2013-11-19T17:45:14Z")
> [@Askia](#): > > Restated: T-r-e is the preferred spelling of “Trey” for many American black males, as a name indicating a III or a nickname. There are also presumably some Trayvons and other variations known as Tre/Trey. ---
**Author:** ![ThelmaLou](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thelmalou/32/390_2.png) [@ThelmaLou](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ThelmaLou)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 5:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/34 "2013-11-19T17:52:58Z")
I knew a guy who was a “fourth” and went exclusively by the name Cuatro (or possibly Quatro, as I never saw it in print). ---
**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:** [November 19, 2013, 5:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/35 "2013-11-19T17:53:41Z")
William Gates III was known as Trey as a kid. Now people have a lot of other names for him that they mostly don’t use for their kids. At least not on their birth certificates. ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 6:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/36 "2013-11-19T18:06:44Z")
This common graffiti from the WWII era, similar to the American “Killroy was here”, was known to the British as “Chad”. Unlike “Killroy”, “Chad” would normally be accompanied by a slogan saying “Wot no …?” (the ellipses being filled in with the name of something missing or, as so often in Britain during the war, in short supply). I don’t know if “Killroy” was a rip-off of “Chad”, or vice-vera (or if they each arose independently). Anyway, the point is that in the WWII era in Britain, “Chad” was clearly considered a common enough name or nickname to be suitable for an “everyman” character. It wasn’t something new 25 years before the OP in 2004. Names do in and out of fashion in a cyclical way. When I was a kid, names like “Emma” and “Emily” were old-lady names. Now, some 50 years later, those names evoke young hotties. In between, they probably became quite rare for a while. (I would check this, and check Chad and Trey etc. too, with the [Baby Name Voyager](http://www.babynamewizard.com/voyager), but it doesn’t seem to be working.) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/37 "2013-11-19T18:09:24Z")
Nitpick: “Kilroy”. ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/38 "2013-11-19T18:15:43Z")
Is “Trey” ever used as short for “Tremaine”? ---
**Author:** ![Doug\_K](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b5ac83/32.png) [@Doug\_K](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doug_K)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/39 "2013-11-19T18:24:11Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Is “Trey” ever used as short for “Tremaine”? I don’t know, but I worked for several years with a guy named Trebor who went by Trey. His name came from his dad’s name backwards. ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/40 "2013-11-19T18:55:42Z")
Are you sure? It’s a (somewhat) common name in Wales (corruption of Trefor/Trevor), and I knew a Hungarian guy named Trebor who said it was an old family name. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294.md?page=3)