Thaniel

Nathan, Nat, and Nate are all familiar diminutives for the classic Nathaniel, but how about this offbeat option? A little like Bastian over Seb or Baz, or Topher over Chris or Kit, Thaniel has a totally different feel. Unusual in sound as it is, when I first saw it, I almost didn’t connect it to Nathaniel, wondering instead if it was a play on Daniel, a Biblical name I’d never heard, or a literary invention.

Appearing in the novels The Watchmaker of Filigree Street and The Lost Future of Pepperharrow by Natasha Pulley, borne by one of the main characters, Nathaniel “Thaniel” Steepleton. He introduces himself as “Nathaniel, but Thaniel if you like. I know it’s a bit.. but my father was Nat”.

Maybe it is “a bit…” but I enjoy the slightly clunkiness of it — and it probably helps that it appears in two of my favorite books!

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