NAME THE CHILD

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 48, Issue 79, 13 January 1928, Page 7

NAME THE CHILD

A CLERGYMAN’S COMMENT. AMUSING SIDE OF BAPTISM. LONDON, January 2. Those who have never had to name a baby are unaware of the perils and pitfalls that proud parents mustavoid (says the Rev. Desmond Morse Boy.cott in the “Daily News.’’) And yet, in spite of the anxious consideration bestowed by parents on the apparently trivial matter of a name, most tragic mistakes occur. When Mr and Mrs Cass decided to call the baby Jack, after its rich uncle, they knew not what they did. But the baby’s sufferings afterwards 1

Antony Spencer Simpson sounds pretty and disarming, but such a child is doomed to write his name in full for life, not daring to use initials. In many experiences parents seldom give such matters a thought. It is good enough if a name sounds pretty or imposing. It is not true to say that parents now provide outlandish names for children. That they used to is well known. Such periods as the Boer War provided plenty of Kitchener .Smiths and Ladysmith Browns. There was not, I think, any such tendency during the Great War. There has been none since. I have christened about 600 children in the last 10 years, and none of them have had names of which I disapproved. Whether a minister may refuse to baptise a child in an outlandish name is doubtful. All names, in origin, are outlandish. He may refuse, however, a definitely pagan name. However much young Jupiter Tompkins wept, proving thereby the aptness of _ the name, I should xefuse him as Jupiter. The only pagan diety who admits of exception is Diana. Why, I do not know. One makes an exception of months, as they have a sentimental rather than a pagan signification. May or June or August are quite proper. It is a pity that fine old English names are going out of fashion—have, indeed, gone out, save in educated circles. I have never christened an Egbert or an Osmund nor yet an Ethelreda. But Berts are legion and Ethels fairly frequent. Thus emasculated, the Saxon name is lost. “What is your name?” asks the Catechism, and answer is “N. or M. There are two theories about N. or M. Scholars say it means “Nomen or Nomina,” “Name or Names,’’ the final M. being just the double N. of Nomina. . . NN. in the same way as pp. ipeans pages, and’ SS. means saints. The less educated, but, I think, shrewder, view is that N. and M. stand for Nicholas* or Mary, once the favourite name for Einglish children. Mary is row infrequently met with at baptisms, and Nicholas hardly ever. There should be much demand lor a little book on babies’ names and what to do at christenings. Hours of worry and argument would be avoided if only parents could buy a list of appropriate names. And they might be warned therein that their choice is not .-rrevocable. It is possible to change your Christian name, or to add to it. at least, in tliei Church of Eh gland and the Church of Rome at confirmation. It is sometimes alleged that silence is negative in the Prayer Book, and that the absence of specific instruction in the matter prohibits a change of name. If silence, then, is negative, the parents may not have their babies back when christened, for they are instructed to place them in the arms of the minister, but not a word appears about their due return to their owners !