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Press, Volume LVII, Issue 17224, 15 August 1921, Page 4

A resident of North Auckland, S do S. Hawkins, of VVAananaki, hw the distinction of being tho eerfflrbh son of a seventh son, and bears itt lu» name, Septimus de Septimo, the record of that fact., A few weeks ago he became in turn the" father of a fioventn Eon Then the question of a suitable name for the infant arose< (writes ''Mercutio" in tho Auckland "Herald"), and Mr Hawkins had recourse to 2, local schoolmaster, for advice There, eeemed nothing for it but to add another lint to the chain of names and call tneooy Septimus de Septimo de Septimo. Though this name wa* quite unexceptionable so far as the meaning went, it was felt by the relativea that its length was somewhat out of proportion to tto little being for whom it was proposed, and it was further realised that it would create a precedent in case the latest Septimus became himself the father of a 6ev«nth son—tnat the name would, as Goldsmith puts it ? "drag out at each remove a lengthening chain. The father, therefore, in his perplexity, consulted an Auckland gentleman who is proficient in the Latin tongue, and received frem him the suggestion (which he accepted) to call the child Septimuß Tertius. Thb signifies "The third seventh," and left the way open a* it were for successive Septimuses (or is it Septimi?)—for example, Septimus Quartus, Septimus Quintus, etc. In a country like New Zealand, which has room for millions of people, it ia gratifying to note such signs of vitality in a good old Englih stock on its being transplanted here, and the best of good •wishes will follow little Septimus Tertius in bia future career.