Tripp

There are a few different directions we can take with the name Tripp (no pun intended). The fact that this name is so new and untested, there are perhaps three possible “etymological” reasons parents might be choosing it. For one, Tripp could be a simple elaboration on the word “trip” which is either an English noun or verb; take your pick. The noun “trip” is the word for a short voyage or quick jaunt someplace else. In the 1960s, a “trip” also became a noun to describe a psychedelic drug experience (for instance, going on a short “voyage” through one’s mind). Alternately, the verb “to trip” means to stumble after catching one’s foot on some unseen obstacle. Colloquially speaking, “to trip” on something also suggests over-analyzing or obsessing on something in some strange way, whereby that something becomes “trippy”. Secondly, Tripp is also used to indicate a “third” in some way. For instance, generationally John Smith III could be called “Tripp”, or it could be a name given to the third-born baby in birth order (especially if they’re “Tripp”lets). Lastly, Tripp is simply the transferred use of a surname with German, Swiss, Austrian and English origins. The surname probably developed as an occupation name from one of three medieval “jobs” – one, from an Old French word “trippere” signifying a traveling dancer; two, from the French “tripe” indentifying a seller of meats and sausages; and three, a maker of “tripps”, the German word for wooden shoes (clogs). As an English surname, Tripp dates back to the late 13th century.