Sketcher.

Alexandra Herald and Central Otago Gazette, Issue 370, 11 June 1903, Page 2

Sketcher.

HAVE YOU AN ABISTOCEATIC NAME ? i to a certain hoary ®jft|<S proverb there is little in a name. jgOK But when the names brought into question are those of civilised human beings the • proverb stands somewhat in need of: amending. The average man is keen to see his name mentioned in ancient history, even though it ia only to find that his long dead namesake was a man of rather doubtful character ; it gives a body to his name that might be lacking otherwise. Apart from sentiment, however, a good name, even in these enlightened times, is not without a certain financial value, as many a man with an ill-starred one has discovered to his cost. A person of the name of Howard Cecil Da Vese, to quote a high-toned nomenclature of the preaant day, offering himself for a vacancy in the coal porter line at 203, per week, would be apt to send a cold ehiver coursing down Ith'e spine of the advertiser, nor would fancy names as Timothy O'Shivery or Peter McPuot be deemed prepossessing ones, for, say, a professional chair. Such named in the circumstances would be tolerably sure to exercise a certain influence onjthe selections made Yet the two latter names are almost delicate when compdred with others which people'carry 'about with them all t< eir lives. Thousands cf persondd annually, however, make sundry alterations on their names in the confirmed belief that the continued retention' of the original one ia a despoiler of their prospects. On the other hand, there are many names that are virtually a pedigree in themselves—a guarantee of the: owner's splendid stock. In short,' there] arte j intensely aristocratic as there are out-and-out plebeian names; and while it might; be considered bad taste to dwell on!the' latter, the former rn»y always be safely dealt with. ,

But what; the reader may ask, constitutes aristocratic nomenclature, for at first blush the distinction may appear an ambiguous one. Simply those names whicharef.nl have been for generations peculiar to the-Upper Ten. But it bo happens, so far as the nobility is conthat these are namts the . public 'hear precious little about, as the Average Peer is a gentleman who might get! on very well without a sTuma-ae at all, sea-' ing that if his title is duke of Downshire his sUhatura'is, of course/ limitedj te Djwsshire' to the exclusion r of r Christian and every other kind of name, ill this means a saving of ink, time and trouble, and does nobody asy harm. * ';; i There is a distinctly aristocratic dash about the name of Cavendash, and has been for maay decades past. It is 'the; family name, among others, of the Oitke of Devonshire, and, subject to the hyphened prefix of ' Bentinck/'is. also that of the »reat house of Portland. Montaguis another superior sort of same which is largely drawn on for baptismal purposes, needlss to say by persons who car/not claim it as a surname.

The name of Enseal! is answered to by thousands of people who cannot claim even a 42nd oousinship with the leset degree of title, yet it appears to ? be a. markedly aristocratic one, the number of nobles who own .it, among the latter the Duke of Bedford. Egerton, top,:is of the superlative least ibreo earls olaim it rb their family name, viz., Earls Ellesmere, Wilson; and Egerton.. The title of the last-named gentleaian brings to mind that the title of-many of onr peers is inseparable from their family v name, including such w 11 known ones as Lords Spencer, Bjion, Cadogan, Berkeley, Coventry, and Bithurst.

Cecil has always, in recent titees nt least, been regarded as a distinctly hr'sto' cractic name, and at least two prr urgent peers are so named,- -•. ~ .■-,... Several barons are of the family ci.ino of Manners, while two noblemen who respectfully confine their signatures t<> 'Jersey' and 'Clarendon,'* *ouid ; if denuded of their title, be YiUiers to iLe world. | ; . ':•

Such names as Churchill, Greville, and Fitzclarehce-—the latter the na-ie of the Earl of Monster—are also readily mot with in the highest Booiety. The exquisite name of Da Vere \%ae is> an extremely unlikely one to be met with in the lower rungs except when it is borrowed for ulterior ends, or made to fit the hero of some penny sentimental. It is the name of at least one peer. The. name St. John, once so much in favour with stage ladies, is, as evidenced by its nob c owners- a highly aristocractic one, 1 as alto is Curzon, Vernon, De Grey, and Vivian, names, however, more familiar in fiction than in real life P

It may please members of the great and powerful family of Brown to learn that the name of the Earl of Kenmare is ' Browne,' though it will be observed that the distinguishing *e' is there. Bat there is no reason for the numencally still stronger tribe of Smith to' feel despondent because of this, for another peer, Lord Strathcona, is- otherwise plain Donald Alexander Smith, without any variations. •'•• ■''■■"'

' Judging Scottish names from (his same standpoint, less thanadosen may be said to go over half her peers, The name of Murray is owned by several, closely followed by such names as Erskine,' Stuart, Stuart, and Lennox are of much 'similar pretensions. :■'■■-- i > . *

The familiar names of Irish peers, on the other hand, take a' sinftularlyiwide range, and if one excepts Talbot, Moore and Browne, it is hard to get two alike' The native * 0 ' is repiesented by O'Brien and respectively the names of Baron inchiqum and Visceunt Ouillamore.