I think this is just a field mapping problem between Android and Thunderbird which seems to have arisen in v1.8.1.
The problem is that in Thunderbird address book, there is a field labeled Title under the Work tab of a contact. When I came to do my first sync with the new v1.8.1, any contacts with text in this field had their name prefixed with that text. The sync is treating Title as if it were Mr, Mrs, Dr, etc. but if that were the case this field should be under the Contact tab not the Work tab. Unfortunately simple Thunderbird doesn't have a field for that sort of title. The fact that Title is under the Work tab suggests it should be used for Job Title and prefixing names with a job title doesn't make sense. You get entries like Marketing Manager John Doe.
It's a question of how you use the t'bird address book fields but I really don't think it makes sense to put Mr, Mrs, Dr, etc under the Work tab when the first, last and nick-names are all under the Contact tab. I hope other people agree so that the default field mapping can be changed.
Thanks