CHRISTENING A DAUGHTER

Evening Post, Volume CXIII, Issue 112, 14 May 1927, Page 20

CHRISTENING A DAUGHTER

fASHION'S CHANGES IN NAMES.

'■'•- ! Having-'returned last week from a Christening at 'which the baby—ai girl -^was giventhe name of Thomasina, I ■; lave been giving some attention to the ■: subject^ and; -gathering what informav.tiin;!: cbnia from the newspapers and .;tte r conversation" V;of friends. Girls' .:B«ne^;,it';\irould;seemj are more liable /than Doys' names'to the vagaries- of fashion, probably because in the case -of a female infant parents feel themselves, more able. to let their fancy .'range and their sentiment play free (writes Catherine ' Carswell in the "?• Manchester -Guardian"). Thus we • have the flower names for girls (and some forty years ago what a spate /there was.of Pansies, Irises, Lilies, Vio- " lets, Violas, Boses), and we have scores '.of such,fancy,names as April, May, f;*nd J.une, Joy, Hope, Faith, Charity, and Prudence, some ot which have bein course of time what one may -A.call "solid" names enough. But with •^boys, though/we may have a: run.ofyPeters' and Michaels, Nicholases, and -.iof Christopners, we never really stray ..from the"beaten path for our choice. ':, Thei.faet is : that while the plain Jixnes ■ >nd Marys.may linger for a. season out ,:*t the vogue, the Johns and Jameses «nd Richards inarch on steadily in full fashion -and repute. During the last ;sfty. years, the wheel has turned away, ?aot ; merely.- from the' flowers and f an;Jeies;(and what an exquisite if dangerous name, by the way, for a girl, is :Faney, given by Hardy to the heroine T©f "Under the Greenwood Tree"!), |>ut from the. overworked Saxon names, ;*wsh asfHilda aia Matilda, Edith and. Ethel, and from what one may ealTtho. Jennysonian names, sueh'as Elaine and M»ud, Lilian and Evelyn (the last being another example of a name that Changes[its character entirely with its '■ex). Gone/too, are the Dorises and the -Irenes'--"' (the *' Ireen'?. - of ; the •-Cockney; . .charlady's daughter), the Mabels, the- Enids, • and the Doras. .Within the last ten years or so all the babies.have b,een made to rejoice in names like! Jane, Ann, Elizabeth, Mary, Bridget, or in old-fashioned doublings like Jane Annj Anna Jane,- even Elizabeth Mary. Of Anns (with or without -.-the .«) and Janes there has been a specially large crop, almost enough to date the ladies when^they shall ,be older. Margarets' and Dorothys are -.being given a rest. Charlottes and Emilys, on the other hand, are once more coming to the front. And now— TThomasina! Does this herald, I wonder, 7* return of the Bobinas and Eobertas ■that ,were : the aunts of the women now becoming middle-aged? Shall we soon :be carrying little Augustas from the . fontj'.-Edwinas,' ' Davidas, Georginas, .Henrietta*, Albertas, Wilhelmiuas, "Adrianas, Donaldas, and Jemimas? ;