Every Monday we will post an entry that hasn’t yet been published with a view towards harnessing the collective onomastic power of the internet. If you have any thoughts about the name’s origin, other variants it might be related to, other examples of its use, etc., please share them in the comments! If you wish to browse other Mystery Monday names, there is an index.
Today’s mystery name is one where we have a hunch as to its solution, but we would love confirming data one way or another. The name is recorded in Moravia in the 14th C, and if we take a surface reading of the name, it is Thami- + the diminutive suffix -co; and the most likely root of Thami- is Thomas, making Thamico a simple diminutive of Thomas, and no mystery at all. Czech experts, this one’s for you! Are we on the right track?
As an alternative to Thomas as explanation for the Thami- part of the name one can consider a hypochoristic form of Thancmar (Dankmar). Modern Low German Tamme is derived from Thancmar.
Thanks! Hadn’t thought about that possibility — but it was precisely because the “diminutive of Thomas” route seemed a bit too easy that we put this up as a Mystery Monday name.