See the results of this poll: Does a first name ending with a -th work with a last name beginning with T
Respondents: 22 (This poll is closed)
- Yes: 21 (95%)
- No: 1 (5%)
[name]Hi[/name]!
Honestly, for me, it depends on the first name and the last name. Let me give you some examples to explain…
[name]Lilith[/name] [name]Taggart[/name], [name]Elizabeth[/name] [name]Taylor[/name] (!), [name]Edith[/name] [name]Trent[/name] - All of these work well, with some working better than others (i.e., [name]Elizabeth[/name] [name]Taylor[/name] and [name]Lilith[/name] [name]Taggart[/name] are superior to [name]Edith[/name] [name]Trent[/name] in my opinion).
[name]Elizabeth[/name] [name]Thomas[/name] - I think, with a longer name like [name]Elizabeth[/name], you might even be able to get away with a surname beginning with a TH, but it isn’t ideal.
Good luck!
[name]Lemon[/name] 
There doesn’t seem to be a real problem with this -th running into a T. If the pair of names sounds bad, or is difficult to say, it is probably for some other reason. You also don’t say if the hard T is a hard T in front of a vowel or another consonant like R or W (where the W is pronounced as in Twin, I believe there are Tw- names where the w is ignored, as in Two, so just treated like a T-vowel - hard T Th-names like [name]Thompson[/name], also).
I think the tongue-twister part will have something to do with other sounds in the name.
[name]Edith[/name] [name]Turner[/name] - ok
[name]Edith[/name] [name]Titus[/name] - kind of hard to say, but not because of the -th/T.
Most of it will have to do with the repetitive or alternating sounds, like a short I transitioning to a long I suddenly, along with a repetition sort of tongue twister - a -th at the end of the first name and an S at the end of the last name.
[name]Meredith[/name] [name]Titus[/name] - easier.
EE-dith TIE-tus is sing-songy and may get tongue-twisted. My name has the same rhythm but doesn’t have matching vowel sounds - it’s not the rhythm alone but the repetitive sound with it that makes this a miss.
MER-eh-dith TIE-tus has a rhythm where it might be less likely to get tongue-twisted, and takes a little focus off the dith/tus problem, and there’s no EE/EYE prominent sound, it’s MER-TIE = ok.
I don’t know what your last name is though, so you have to say it out loud with the first name you like and see if it rolls off the tongue (without a lot of practice!) or gets you stuck over part of it, or rhymes or something else you don’t like.
[name]Elizabeth[/name] [name]Taylor[/name]!
It depends on the specific names, though.
I don’t think it’s a problem at all. The /th/ sound is a different sound than the /t/ sound. I wouldn’t use a name ending in /th/ with a last name beginning with /th/.
To clarify our last name is Tys0n. So it’s a t-vowel combination.
With [name]Ty[/name]$0n: [name]Edith[/name] Tie-sun isn’t too hard to say,
[name]Edith[/name] [name]Titus[/name] as the example messes up because of the long I after the short I in combination with the dith/tus repetition.
[name]Edith[/name] [name]Ty[/name]$0n WORKS because of the long I after the short I in combination with the S in the middle rather than at the end, and an N at the end which doesn’t simulate the S/Th kind of tongue-twister. If your last name was TISSEN, it would be tongue-twisty. [name]Even[/name] [name]Edith[/name] [name]Thomas[/name] might be kind of hard to say.
I don’t know for sure you are considering [name]Edith[/name] or if it is just an example. [name]Elizabeth[/name] would slightly more elegant? I don’t know, it just has more syllables and people will say it balances better, it has a xOxx [name]Ox[/name] kind of rhythm, rather than the [name]Ox[/name] [name]Ox[/name] rhythm of [name]Edith[/name]. If you are considering a nickname like [name]Edie[/name], [name]Edie[/name] [name]Ty[/name]$0n is a little harsher than saying [name]Edith[/name]. I think. Because of the Ee-ee-Eye sound in quick succession, but that’s subjective. It’s not hard to say, it’s just almost a little easier to have that th in there before the T than not to.
The sounds are clearly distinct. As for whether any individual name works, that’s another question, but it won’t be a matter of adjacent sounds.