ROMANCE IN NAMES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIV, Issue 145, 21 June 1934, Page 20

ROMANCE IN NAMES.

SEVERAL LONG LISTS RECEIVED.. PICTURE PUZZLE ARRANGED FOR NEXT WEEK. Dear Boys and Girls,— Anyone who has read and enjoyed the stirring tales of Robin Hood and his merry men must have noticed that in these days many quite ordinary surnames are suggestive of those medieval times. In arranging the surnames competition a fortnight ago we felt that boys and girls would find good entertainment sitting round the fireside racking their brains for such names. Of course, anyone who cared to delve into the subject of nomenclature could bring to light many hundreds of comparatively unusual names which had their origin deeply rooted in the past, but such names were not wanted in this competition. Some competitors, I fear, wrote down any name at all so long as a satisfactory meaning could be found for it. Bush, for example, was included in the list of one girl who gave the meaning as " one who lived in the backwoods of Australia.' l Surely one cannot think that this name is even remotely suggestive of things medieval. The entries received this week were longer than we expected and a great many of the names included could not be allowed. Kathleen Goddard captured the first prize with 212 allowable names in a list of 234, whilst the second place was won by Joan McLaren, who had 209 names correct in an original entry of 270. Heather Wynyard and R. L. Nugent captured third and fourth places respectively with 201 and 163 names correct. Picture puzzles are always popular with young people. To-day our artist has drawn a scene made up entirely of objects that begin with the letter "K" and Budgetites will enjoy the task of seeing how many of these they can find. Be sure to read the rules and the f competition announcement carefully, for V*tT the Crocodile is ever on the lookout for yJS^ careless contributions.