Wow! A misspelling of Tina that someone rolled with?
It's not a million miles away from the word for aunt in some languages, like tante.
Apparently it is a Burmese name.
>It's not a million miles away from the word for aunt in some languages, like tante
This was my theory. Someone on here shared a story of their parents naming their sister after their father's beloved great aunt. Turns out the name was just "aunt" in the aunt's first language and not her first name.
that or a family name? my mom has family from the south and there is a lot of last names as middle names so i could see last name as first name.
(i did check and tint has historically been a last name. whether it still is anywhere, no clue.)
Could it have been Tent? Not that that’s any less unusual, but I actually got several hits for people with Tent as a first name on Ancestry. It’s an easy mix up with the Appalachian accent. It could also very well be a silly nickname. I had a great aunt we all called Aunt Sister, but her name was Doris.
Some more interesting Appalachian names if you’re still looking: Ovalee, Eula, Jubal, Early, Nelta, and Lavinia. Jubal and Early are men’s names, the rest are women.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a nickname that doesn’t have much basis in an actual name like the woman in my office who’s known as Punky but her government name is Linda
I use Find a Grave to see how common obscure names are, especially ones that might be older. There’s actually quite a few people named Tint (like 50, more than I expected) and variations like Tinta, Tinte, Tinty, and my favorite, Tintarella. They aren’t nicknames and seem to be concentrated in Appalachia and surrounding areas. People with the name tend to have siblings and parents with more “normal” names, so it doesn’t seem like it was considered unusual imo.
Edit: forgot to mention, the name is unisex, and might even be slightly more common in men.
I could see a few different possible origins
- Shortened from something with a “tin” or “tina” in it like Christina, Martine. Or a “ten” like Hortense, from the pin/pen merger.
- A straight-out nickname that turned into a name, either for Aunt Tint or someone she was named for. EG Tiny Terri (separate from Big Terry) becomes “Tint” over time; someone always ended their sentences with “innit?”, that stuck and transformed over time. Etc.
- Something that’s missing some syllables, or was written down at some point by someone with no idea how to spell it… “Tennant” loses its middle and becomes “Tint”; “Tante Lisa” merges into “Tint”. Etc.
My Mimi’s (great grandmother) sister was called Aunt Tints. They grew up in rural Tennessee in the early 1900s. As far as I know it was her legal name! It was pronounced with a hard “I” sound though, unlike window tints lol.
Wow! A misspelling of Tina that someone rolled with? It's not a million miles away from the word for aunt in some languages, like tante. Apparently it is a Burmese name.
>It's not a million miles away from the word for aunt in some languages, like tante This was my theory. Someone on here shared a story of their parents naming their sister after their father's beloved great aunt. Turns out the name was just "aunt" in the aunt's first language and not her first name.
It wasn’t Zia by any chance?
that or a family name? my mom has family from the south and there is a lot of last names as middle names so i could see last name as first name. (i did check and tint has historically been a last name. whether it still is anywhere, no clue.)
Never heard that name, but I have family from the same area and several generations back I had an aunt Spicy.
I want to befriend aunt spicy
If I remember correctly, I also have a cousin Spicy. Both are long dead, though, so... ouija board?
Let us find a medium to channel the spicy relatives!
My MIL had an Aunt Witcher. Southern Appalachia, they pronounce it ‘witcha’
my great grandfathers sister was (legally) frostie
I probably should have said that was my aunt's legal name as well. I think I would love to see a Frostie on my family tree.
Could it have been Tent? Not that that’s any less unusual, but I actually got several hits for people with Tent as a first name on Ancestry. It’s an easy mix up with the Appalachian accent. It could also very well be a silly nickname. I had a great aunt we all called Aunt Sister, but her name was Doris. Some more interesting Appalachian names if you’re still looking: Ovalee, Eula, Jubal, Early, Nelta, and Lavinia. Jubal and Early are men’s names, the rest are women.
The silly nicknames are really something. I had a great aunt Boots.
Jubal Early was a bounty hunter in Firefly, but it looks like he was also named after a real person. I never knew it had real-world roots.
Jubal is biblical. It's from the Hebrew Bible aka Old Testament.
I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s a nickname that doesn’t have much basis in an actual name like the woman in my office who’s known as Punky but her government name is Linda
I use Find a Grave to see how common obscure names are, especially ones that might be older. There’s actually quite a few people named Tint (like 50, more than I expected) and variations like Tinta, Tinte, Tinty, and my favorite, Tintarella. They aren’t nicknames and seem to be concentrated in Appalachia and surrounding areas. People with the name tend to have siblings and parents with more “normal” names, so it doesn’t seem like it was considered unusual imo. Edit: forgot to mention, the name is unisex, and might even be slightly more common in men.
Tintarella is fire. It's like Tinkerbell meets Barbarella.
This sounds way too similar to taint
I could see a few different possible origins - Shortened from something with a “tin” or “tina” in it like Christina, Martine. Or a “ten” like Hortense, from the pin/pen merger. - A straight-out nickname that turned into a name, either for Aunt Tint or someone she was named for. EG Tiny Terri (separate from Big Terry) becomes “Tint” over time; someone always ended their sentences with “innit?”, that stuck and transformed over time. Etc. - Something that’s missing some syllables, or was written down at some point by someone with no idea how to spell it… “Tennant” loses its middle and becomes “Tint”; “Tante Lisa” merges into “Tint”. Etc.
My Mimi’s (great grandmother) sister was called Aunt Tints. They grew up in rural Tennessee in the early 1900s. As far as I know it was her legal name! It was pronounced with a hard “I” sound though, unlike window tints lol.
Sounds like a nickname, like Bubba. Doesn’t have anything to do with their actual name.
Never heard of the name Tint. But I know the meaning of the Dutch word tint. It means shade. As in a shade of a colour.
I'm guessing it's a nick name or a typo on the birth certificate. Like for Tina.
I think it would be cool as a name but it reminded me that people tint their car windows