# 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:** 12\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/41 "2013-11-19T18:58:26Z")
I’d like to know how “Caitlin”, and its multiple spelling variants, took off, and why. It’s an old-fashioned Irish name. Same thing with “Madison”. “Gage” came from the TV show “Emergency”. People who watched it back in the 1970s liked the name and said, “If I ever have a son, I want to name him Gage” and that’s where it came from. Some movie stars have named their kids Ava, Lola, Ella, etc. Florence is making a comeback too, because of the singer from Florence + The Machine. ---
**Author:** ![aruvqan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aruvqan/32/2891_2.png) [@aruvqan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aruvqan)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 7:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/42 "2013-11-19T19:03:21Z")
> [@Anonymous\_Coward](#): > > 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? mrAru is named Robert Andrew, his father is Robert Roy. His father in family was always called Rob, while mrAru was called Drew. The guys in the navy on his boat/in his division called him Rob, I call him Rob, people who don’t know him [like phone salesmen] call him Bob. ---
**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, 7:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/43 "2013-11-19T19:07:12Z")
> [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](#): > > 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. Yes, I worked with his dad as well. He already had a son named Robert from a previous marriage, but he still wanted to name his youngest after himself. He said he was playing around with variations of his name, and realized that it was pronounceable spelled backwards. ---
**Author:** ![Claverhouse](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/13edae/32.png) [@Claverhouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Claverhouse)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 7:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/44 "2013-11-19T19:31:42Z")
I had assumed that it came from a common christian name for pet spaniels in the 18th century; \* ‘My little dog, Tray.’\* I never wondered where that name came from. ---
**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, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/45 "2013-11-19T19:35:52Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > 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.) Oops, I forgot to put the link to teh Chad graffito in my previous post. [Here it is](http://blog.mmenterprises.co.uk/2005/01/chad-wot-no-bananas.htm). You can get quite a lot of them if you google image search **[chad wot no wall](https://www.google.co.uk/search?hl=en&site=imghp&tbm=isch&source=hp&biw=1218&bih=900&q=chad&oq=chad&gs_l=img.12..0l10.1591.4325.0.7488.4.4.0.0.0.0.58.202.4.4.0....0...1ac.1.31.img..0.4.201.yTbxV6-D1Wk#hl=en&q=chad+wot+no+wall&tbm=isch)**. (Just Chad gets you mostly the African country.) ---
**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, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/46 "2013-11-19T19:55:07Z")
> [@Doug\_K](#): > > 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. There used to be a major sweet (“candy” to Americans) making company in Britain called [Trebor](http://www.thetreborstory.com/). They were absorbed by Cadbury’s quite a while ago, but [these](http://www.uksweetshop.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&products_id=163) (and very possibly some other products) are still sold under the Trebor name. I think most British people would be familiar with the name from that. I do not know where the name came from, though, and neither Wikipedia nor [this site](http://www.thetreborstory.com/) is much help. One of the founders was apparently called [Robert Robertson](http://www.thetreborstory.com/page10.html), but it is not apparent that he was such a preeminent figure in the firm that it would be named for him (backwards). ---
**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, 8:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/47 "2013-11-19T20:01:49Z")
_Missed edit window:_ I have always heard the sweet company name pronounced as _Tree-bore_ though, so it would not very naturally shorten to _Trey_. ---
**Author:** ![TruCelt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/trucelt/32/523_2.png) [@TruCelt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TruCelt)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/48 "2013-11-19T20:04:57Z")
Arthur M Kottcamp seems like it would be a fairly uncommon name. You might want to keep it off the web in future. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 10:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/49 "2013-11-19T22:06:59Z")
A couple of present-day Treys: Trey Parker, co-producer of South Park. Born Randolph Parker III. Ken Griffey III, son of baseball player Ken Griffey, Jr. and grandson of Ken Griffey, Sr. His nickname is Trey. ---
**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, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/50 "2013-11-19T22:29:02Z")
Speaking of Treys: [http://news.yahoo.com/fla-congressman-charged-cocaine-possession-220606904--politics.html](http://news.yahoo.com/fla-congressman-charged-cocaine-possession-220606904--politics.html) Note: not intended to be a political jab. Just thought it was funny that someone nicknamed Trey was in the news today. ---
**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, 11:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/51 "2013-11-19T23:24:14Z")
Reported post #48. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [November 19, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294/52 "2013-11-19T23:47:34Z")
I don’t see the need to open this zombie thread. Closed. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/where-did-the-name-trey-come-from/256294.md?page=2)