RULES FOR GUIDANCE

Evening Post, Volume CXI, Issue 79, 3 April 1926, Page 15

RULES FOR GUIDANCE

NAMING THE BABY.

Who hasn't pitied the short, dumpy girl who goes through life labelled Diana, or the small boy whose school life is made miserable by the name Marmaduke; or, wor.se still, the poor infants who were, during the last century, named Jubilee, and during this century Mons, Haig, or Jclliooe? It's not so bad for a boy, but imagine Mons in 1950 trying to make people believe she is still in her twenties! Family names can be very beautiful, but tread cautiously when you name your child "after" someone. Aunt Eliza may be a dear soul and very kind, but it's no reason why your small daughter should be called Eliza. If you must be tactful call her Elizabeth. That is as 'charming as Eliza is the leverse. There has been a revival of the old English names (says a writer in an exchange), and where Bettys, Marjories, and Joans reigned supreme we now find crops of Elizabeths, Marys, and Annes. . - A safe rule is, the simpler the name the better. And if everyone is calling t.heir baby Joan,: don't: do -it to be in the fashion, becaus.e it is "dating." ■ For small boys who will still like their names when they are big boys there are the good- old John, James (''commonly known as Jim, "as A. A. Milne says), Tom, and Richard.- Christopher is attractive, and 'Derek and Michael and Peter are uncommon enough to please the most exacting mother, and will be accepted with pleasure by the son. Other names to choose from are Harold, Howard, Donald, Godfrey, Geoffrey^ Gerald, lan, Alan, Philip, Anthony, Arnold, Douglas, Ralph, Norman, and Stephen. One small American boy of my acquaintance is solemnly called "Williab," and you've no idea how attractive it sounds. Timothy is another boys' name that is much neglected. •.••.•,. Girls are much easier to cater for. You can call your woe daughter Wcnoy, Jill, Shirley, Jenny, Denise, Rosemary, or Una, and she will be equally fashionably and attractively, named. Mary and Jane (but never the two together) are always charming. So are Anne, Ellaline, Marian, and Ruth. If none of these .please you, how about Jeanne, Phyllis, Sonia, Ursula (these last two have.been hard dealt by in fiction, but they are none the less charming), Elsa, Winifred, Dorothy, Katherine, Alma, and Zoe? Remember that you do not know to what individual type your daughter will belong, so avoid such names as Blanche (for she may be tall and dark); Lily (for she may be plump and fascinating), or Rose (for she may. be pale and And don't forget that two names combined can be charming. A noteworthy example is Christopher Robin, who inspired '' Wheii Wo Were Very Young." Elizabeth Mary is another, aud one that is'equally becoming to a tiny girl as it is to a grown-up.