In Reference To... Thomson vs. Thompson
- Katherine Arkady
- Jun 10
- 5 min read
Introduction: “What’s in a P?”
What is in a letter? That which we call a p. By any other letter would it pop so perfectly?
—Juliet, if she had met the Letter P at the Capulet's masquerade ball
It's just a letter. There are 26 letters in the English Alphabet.
But alas. I work at a place that requires many last names to be alphabetically organized. We also look up last names in the computer. I was checking in a person who said last name, "Thompson."
I was searching and searching and they weren't in the system! I knew this person had to be in the system because I had seen them before. At this time I was also training, so I was new to the software and new to asking the right questions to get the file.
"There's no p," they eventually said.
And that began the rabbit hole search I went into to find out that sometimes, there isn't a p in Thomson.
BUT WHY??
Usage of the Letter P
The letter P, as a voiceless bilabial plosive (basically the puff of air you make when saying "pop"), is super common phonetically, but its presence in alphabets and scripts varies widely.
Languages that Use P:
These languages all use the Latin alphabet, which includes the letter P.
English (of course)
Spanish – e.g., papel, persona
French – pouvoir, petit
German – Papier, Politik
Italian – pasta, parlare
Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Finnish, Polish, etc.
Other Scripts That Use or Represent "P" Sounds:
Languages written in non-Latin scripts often do have a P sound, even if they don’t use our exact “P” symbol.
Greek: Π (pi) – literally the origin of our P!
Cyrillic: П (pronounced like “P” in Russian and related languages)
Arabic: Arabic technically lacks a native “P”, but uses پ (peh) in Persian, Urdu, and Pashto.
Hebrew: פ (Pe) can make a “P” or “F” sound depending on diacritics.
Korean: ㅍ (pieup) = “P” sound.
Japanese: “P” appears in katakana syllables like パ (pa), ピ (pi), etc.
Chinese (Pinyin): Uses "P" to represent the /pʰ/ sound (e.g., píngguǒ = apple), but Mandarin doesn’t have a native voiced /b/ and voiceless /p/ contrast — it uses aspiration instead.
Languages That Don’t Use “P” (or Have It Rarely)
Here’s where it gets fun — some languages lack a “P” sound entirely, or use it very rarely:
Arabic (Modern Standard): No native “P” sound — it often turns into a “B” when borrowing.
Parking → often pronounced barking.
Hawaiian: No “P” in the original alphabet, but it does exist now in the limited modern alphabet — and the sound exists.
Georgian: Has its own version of the “P” sound, but written differently (პ).
Tlingit: A Native Alaskan language — lacks a /p/ sound entirely.
Xhosa & Zulu: /p/ is rare, not totally absent, but uncommon compared to other consonants.
Why Would a Language Not Have "P"?
It comes down to:
Phonemic inventory: Some languages just don’t distinguish between /p/ and /b/.
Sound changes over time: For example, Ancient Arabic likely lost the /p/ early on.
Borrowing pressure: In languages that borrow heavily from English or French, the “P” gets adopted phonetically (even if it’s not native).
So what’s in a single letter? As we’ve seen, the humble P doesn’t even show up in every language — yet where it does, it can quietly reshape meaning, pronunciation, and even identity.
Thom...?
Thompson
Patronymic surname meaning “son of Thom/Thomas.”
Common in English-speaking countries.
The p is a later addition.
Thomson
The surname is documented in Cheshire records before and after the 1066 Norman Conquest.
Same root, but often traced more specifically to Scotland.
The “p”-less version aligns with older Scottish linguistic patterns.
James Thomson (the poet) and J.J. Thomson (physicist) are notable namesakes.
The P in Thompson is decorative AND directional!
Cultural Vibes & Associations
Thomson and Thompson
Remember Thomson and Thompson? Characters in The Adventures of Tintin.
The detective with the flat, drooping walrus moustache is Thompson and introduces himself as "Thompson, with a 'P', as in psychology" (or any such word in which the "P" is silent), while the detective with the flared, pointed moustache is Thomson, who often introduces himself as "Thomson, without a 'P', as in Venezuela."
Thompson Twins
Funny enough, the English pop band, Thompson Twins based their name off of the bumbling detectives. You know them. You know their songs. At least the top five in their Greatest Hits album:
"In the Name of Love" from Set
"Lies" from Quick Step and Side Kick
"We Are Detective" from Quick Step and Side Kick
"If You Were Here" from Quick Step and Side Kick
"Love on Your Side" from Quick Step and Side Kick
At no point was the band made up of only two "twins," often having three or more. But it was the 80s. Nothing needed to make sense, you just had to have that wild hair. Shown below:
Eugene "Flash" Thompson
Eugene "Flash" Thompson is a character appearing in American comic books published by Marvel Comics. Created by writer Stan Lee and artist Steve Ditko, the character first appeared in Amazing Fantasy #15 (August 1962).
Flash Thompson is a star high school football player, who mercilessly bullies his high school classmate Peter Parker, but greatly admires Spider-Man, an irony in which the superhero takes some gratification. In time, they become close friends in college after Flash matures and he later discovers Peter is Spider-Man.
Point is, you've been seeing Thompson and/or Thomson all over the modern media! Will you take more notice now? I know that I have!
Why It Matters in Reference (to YOU)
What is in a name? It shapes understanding. They’re labels, sure, but they’re also loaded with identity, history, family ties, assumptions, and emotional resonance. Consider the following regarding Thompson vs Thomson:
A signal of heritage (is it Scottish? Anglicized? Colonial?)
A clue to origin stories (immigration patterns, lost accents, bureaucratic edits)
A point of reference — which one gets mispronounced? Which one feels more “correct”? Which one shows up in records, in books, in assumptions?
When I zoom in on a tiny difference like that lone P, I'm trying to spotlight how language holds both specificity and slippage.
It’s a reminder that language is precise, but people are messy — and a name is a living artifact of that tension. Which is why you, a writer who parses meaning from nuance, finds so much richness in it.
So this isn’t just about two surnames. It’s about how a small orthographic flick becomes a metaphor for everything your series digs into: detail, perception, and the wild power of reference.
Conclusion: One Letter, Two Worlds
One letter apart. Two very real names. And a prime example of how a single character—especially one as precarious as P—can shift perception, heritage, and reference entirely.
I invite you to reflect on the beauty (and chaos) of language. And, next time you write a thank-you card to somebody—read my blog post about Writing Something Else—double-check the P.”
Poking at patterns, pronunciation, and perception,
Katherine Arkady
Comments