Timothy

Timothy comes from the Greek Timotheos, formed from timē, meaning honour, and theos, meaning god. Read together, the two parts say something plain: honouring god. Greek gave the name its shape, yet English became the culture that held it closest.

Much of that owes to one figure. In the New Testament, Timothy is the young companion of the apostle Paul, and two of the letters attributed to Paul are addressed to him. Christian scripture carried the name into English, and English speakers spread it widely from there.

It stays a boy's name. No standard short form or feminine version is recorded beside it, so the full four syllables do all the work.

On a Polish urząd form the name would be entered letter by letter, its Greek sense sitting behind the ink: honour paid to a god, czczący boga.