this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2025

-1 points (46.2% liked)

Music

8327 readers

661 users here now

founded 2 years ago

MODERATORS

-1

Is it "Thelonious" or "Thelmoious"? (hear-me.social)

submitted 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) by [email protected] to c/music

15 comments fedilink hide all child comments

Is it "Thelonious" or "Thelmoious"?

I can't find any good articles discussing the reasons for the differences in the spelling of Monk's first name/stage name. His wiki page says his birth name is "Thelious Monk Jr."

Surely someone has written about this, right?

#thelmoiousmonk #thelmoiousmonk #jazz @jazzfm @jazz #music @[email protected] @[email protected] @jazz

top 15 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old

[–] gedaliyah 12 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I feel like I'm having a seizure reading this. Please fix the spelling of what you are trying to ask.

Thelonious Sphere Monk was born on October 10, 1917, in Rocky Mount, North Carolina, the son of Thelonious (or Thelious) and Barbara Monk. His sister, Marion, had been born two years earlier. His birth certificate spelled his first name as "Thelious" and did not list his middle name, taken from his maternal grandfather, Sphere Batts.

via Wikipedia

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago

Monk is a legend. I didn't realize there was a discrepancy on his birth certificate. TIL.

[–] [email protected] -3 points 2 days ago (1 children)

@gedaliyah

Sorry, I fixed the original question. Is it Thelonious or Thelmoious?

[–] gedaliyah 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

After the correction, I have no answer for you. "Thelmoious" returns zero web search results. No one here has ever heard this name or seen this spelling before you posted this question. I assumed it was a typo.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

@gedaliyah OMG. I figured it out.

I was using a Firefox extension that was changing “Elon” to “Elmo”… I didn’t put a space before and after “Elon” in the prompt, so it was changing it everywhere. Even within words.

[–] gedaliyah 2 points 1 day ago

😂

[–] foggy 10 points 2 days ago (1 children)

Thelonious.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 2 days ago (1 children)

@foggy

Then why is it "Thelonious" on his album covers?

[–] foggy 4 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Then why is it "Thelonious" on his album covers?

Because that is how it is spelled.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thelonious_Monk_discography

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

What the fuck am I reading lmao? I think this is my favorite thread on lemmy so far.

(Context: when I left this comment the title was not fixed, it still said "Is it Thelomious or Thelomious" despite the comment saying they fixed it lol.)

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

@foggy So are you saying his stage name ins “Thelonious”?

[–] foggy 2 points 2 days ago

I am saying his name was always "Thelonious" and never any other name or spelling.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 days ago (2 children)

I'm not entirely sure what your question is but plenty of people have one name on their birth certificate while using another name, even on legal documents. My aunt was in her fifties when she found out her birth certificate said Diana instead of her legal name, Diane.

[–] misterdoctor 4 points 2 days ago

Dianious

[–] [email protected] -1 points 2 days ago

@oxjox

Sorry, I messed up the title.... His name on albums is "Thelonious"...