It was a question that plagued her for almost nine decades. Where did the name T9C come from? Even her two children don’t know for sure. [Son Ray Dinterman] said they had been told the name had no meaning, but had come from a Baptist preacher in Texas.

“I’m just glad I wasn’t little T9C”, daughter Rae Jean Howell of Hagerstown said.
Her name was pronounced Te-nine-see, with emphasis on the “nine”.

So where did the odd spelling come from?

According to Behind the Name, it’s “a reubus-like spelling of a slang intensive term for ‘tiny'”.

More specifically, it probably originated in Texas in the 19th century, where the earliest examples of the spelling have been found so far.

Quoted text via Herald Mail Media.