Tia

Tia, a short and sweet name I thought. I first noticed this name in our apartment WhatsApp group two years ago. Tia mostly asked questions in the group, and signed off with her name at the bottom of every message. I wondered why she used a man’s WhatsApp number to ask questions, ‘May be she wanted to keep her number private or most unlikely she did not have a WhatsApp number?’  

‘What’s in a name?’ they say.

However, nay, I am fond of short names and have the habit of checking the meanings of such names. Google tells me Tia is a Christian girl name meaning happiness or princess. The Greek word Tia means Goddess or Godly. The Hebrew origin says Tia is the nickname of Tamara, daughter-in-law of Judah. Great, so the name has been around for a really long time. 

Now that I had already named my daughter Aditi, I didn’t stand a chance of using this name in the immediate future. Aditi was another such name, not an uncommon name though; but it stuck to my head ever since I heard the song ‘Kabhie Kabhie Aditi’ from the 2008 Hindi movie. So, Tia just stuck to that same part of the head where I stored cute short names. Probably I’ll write a kids book some day, and Tia will be a character. 

Then I noticed one day that Tia was asking a lot of questions in the group, and not just from one number, but from multiple numbers. Now, something was not quite right. Why did Tia always have only questions, and why didn’t she use a single number? I scrolled up and saw TIA, that was my Eureka moment. Tia was the short form for ‘Thanks in advance’.

Now, what do I say? This name turned out to be a very embarrassing revelation I would not want to share with anyone. However, it is not my mistake that people are so busy they do not have time to say ‘Thank you’ in full. 

Today, I noticed Tia in another WhatsApp group chat, so I decided to write it down, it might just make you smile..   Or if you are someone who uses Tia, you’ll smile or perhaps think of this next time.