Who'd call their daugher Thing? Apparently Tine Thing Helseth is a prominent Norwegian trumpeter of the female persuasion. Two th's in her name even though th doesn't really occur in modern Norwegian. Pronounced as if the h's weren't there.
Now thing is an old Norse word for an assembly or parliament, still used in Icelandic, but has become ting in Norwegian, hence the Norwegian parliament being Stortinget - The Big Thing if you like. Tine is a big Norwegian dairy cooperative, they make the Jarlsberg, so it's pretty hard not to notice that if you go to Norway. Although that may be a coincidence and I expect Tine is just like Tina in some other languages. I can find no evidence that Thing is a usual female name in Norwegian, or any other language.
So is this lady really called Tine Parliament Helseth, or is there some other explanation for her middle name?
