CHOOSING A NAME

Evening Star, Issue 20316, 26 October 1929, Page 6

CHOOSING A NAME

CASES FORTUNATE AND UNFORTUNATE [Written by Warwick, for the ■ * Evening Star,’] There comes a time in the lives oh the majority of men and women when they are called upon to make a momentous decision, They have to decide on a name for the baby. “ What’s in a name?” asks the poet, and seems to think it is not of any consequence But another writer asserts, and with more truth, that “there’s a whole loi in a name, and sometimes a bad lot.” This being so, how necessary, when choosing a name for the baby, to exercise care and common sense, forethought and intelligence, prudence and modesty, and all the rest of it. Poor little mite! Just think of it! There he lies utterly helpless, entirely at the mercy of parents who may allow their enthusiasm, their patriotism, their love of the artistic and literary to dominate their discretion. The result is that when the said helpless infant grows up he* finds. himself burdened with a high-faluting name or some other label that is unsuitable. Here let mo say that in this business of choosing a name I don’t pretend to be above reproach. lam satisfied if I had to do the job (or jobs) all over again 1 could do it better. We live and learn (or we ought to;, but once wo attach a name to a baby it is pretty well fixed. We cannot paint it out with the same facility as we can that of a motor launch or rowing boat. One way and another I have come across several instances of parents going astray in the matter of “ naming the baby,” There was, for instance, the lady who was very anxious that her little daughter should have an uncommon name. She finally decided on a native word which her sister had picked up during a brief visit to tho East. The name was musical, and everyone around was satisfied, until a missionary acquaintance homo of furlough gave the meaning of the word as “early breakfast.” The mother hastened to get the name officially altered. Another lady of my acquaintance gave her boy a nicc-sonnding Maori name. She learnt later that the word meant “ meeting house,” Wo would laugh, wouldn’t we, if a Maori mother were to christen her child “town hall?” On more than one occasion I have come across cases where the child , has grown out ot its name. What was once suitable is now. not apropos. In these days of Plunket feeding for infants and golf for girls it is possible that that fragile little thing before you may develop, as W. S. Gilbert says, into

s An English girl of eleven strae two And five foot ten in her dancing shoe. Therefore to give her a name which suggests sometning sylph-like is risky. 1 have never been enamoured of the idea of giving a girl a boy’s name. No doubt it gives the impression ot vivacity, but to outsiders such a name is confusing. Sometimes a boy is given a name which resembles that of a girl, and this is more disadvantageous still. You can rely on it that • that boy’s schoolmates will not fail to remind him of tho fact, and he won’t like it. Names which are neither masculine or feminino have their drawbacks. Speaking at Auckland the other day, the Rev. Wilna Constable, who,’.it mar be mentioned at once, is-a woman, said that when she went to address a woman’s meeting in Warwickshire she was ushered' to a seat just inside the door. She remarked that she was the speaker. The lady usher said: “Oh, no; it is a clergyman, the Rev. Wilna Constable, who is to address us.” It sometimes happens that a parent is so smitten with the attributes of a grgat political or military leader that he bestows the name of his hero upon his offspring. It is possible that the boy may grow up to be proud of his cognomen. On the other hand,/he may not like to carry around with him so distinguished a name, which he finds it impossible to live up to. In connection with giving a child an augustname an English writer says that when he was at school there were two boys in his class, one called Thomas and the other Demosthenes ' Homer Virgil. “ One would have expected a boy with tho latter names,” continues tho writer, “to have developed into either a great preacher or an eminent poet. As a matter of fact, that boy was a failure in life, and in the menial occupation which he followed his highsounding name seemed decidedly incongruous.” The other lad called Thomas became the noted sculptor Sir Thomas Brock. Mention of Homer reminds mo of an illustration of the manner in which names for babies are sometimes chosen. A humble toiler attended church to have his baby christened. “ So you are going to call him Homer, are yon?” said the vicar. '; “ I am pleased to see that you appreciate the classics.” ‘‘Don’t know nuthin’ about the classics, governor. I’m calling the kid Homer after, that homer pigeon o’ mine what won the cup.” The practice of Utilising a surname as a Christian name is often very pleasing, and enables the mother to get, that uncommonness so much sought after. Sir Joynton Smith, the founder of ‘ Smith’s Weekly,’ and a few years ago Lord Mayor of Sydney, is a Londoner. and was christened John. He was not satisfied that the appellation 1 was distinctive enough to suit him, and ho adopted “ Joynton ” as his Christian name. Who will say that “Joynton Smith ” has not got a more indivdnal touch than “John Smith?” ; Just as there are parents who do not engage in the' problem of choosing a name for the . baby with sufficient seri-: onsness, so there are' others who dis-! play great thoroughness. Mr Hilaire; Belloc tells of a couple who disputed with each other as to a suitable name for their first baby. They wrangled over great sounding names, such as Semiramis. and strange ones like Oonah. They discussed garden names such as Pansy, Bible names like Deborah, abstract ones like Mercy, Old English names such as -Ethelberg, and worried themselves over queenly names "Ire Victoria, Then the child was horn.: It was a boy. They came to a decision at once. The day following his arrival he was given the name of “James” without fuss or argument- after an’ uncle who was rich and old: and a bachelor.

Referring again to the matter of some parents naming a boy after some person whom they hero-worship, a case, occurred in Switzerland where the authorities thought fit to resist the practice. A Communist at Berne made application to have his son’s name registered a<s T,oriin. Permission was refused. however, the authorises stating that a father had no right to give his son a name- that prejudice the boy in the eyes of his fellows in his after-life.

The number of things to which superstition is attached is legion. Thus it is not surprising that in the opinion of somebody some names are lucky and others a.e unlucky. In his hook, ‘ The Autobiography of an Irish Octogeu-

arian,’ Mr J. Franklin Fuller states that he has long made a hobby of studying names, and he is convinced that persons can be handicapped, by their Christian name. Ho asserts that the number of persons bearing a certain name who have achieved distinction is so abnormally small as to firm his belief. Mr Fuller quotes Monsieur Do Rochetal, the originator, of the science of “ onomatology _ (the doctrine of names) as supporting his suggestion But we remember that some of the names smiled out as unlucky have been associated with persons who have done pretty well in life, and “ lucky ” names linked witlr individuals who have been much less fortunate in their affairs. . ■ The hero of the old-time melodrama, it will lie remembered, was usually Tom or Jack. ..... m The name “John’ is m Christian countries the king of men’s names, just as “Mary” is the queen of womens names, the spelling, of course, vanes in d’fferent languages. Thus in Gaelic it is spelt lan, in French Jean, in Spanish it is Juan, in Portuguese Jono, in Russian Ivan. The Italians make it Giovanni, the Germans Johann. ■_ Despite all the care and consideration you give to the matter of choosing a name for your offspring, it is possible that he or she. grown up, may calmly announce a dislike.for the name, and declare that if the responsibility had been otherwise nlac°d quite a - different choice would have been made. Tastes differ, and one must expect such a contingency to arise. However, if one has not allowed oneself to be' swayed by vanity or prejudice, or fad or fashion, hut has striven to choose a name that will please the child and not to gratify a whim of one’s own, one is less likely to he arraigned at the bar of one’s children’s judgment. , . ' Without putting in a plea for the exclusive use of the more commonlygiven Christian names, which would tend to monotony, it may be stated that parents having political ambitions for. their sons will not militate against their success by .giving them a popular name. Not, at any rate, if New, Zealand is to be taken as a criterion. During the last forty years the Christian names ,of those who have occupied the distinguished office of. Premier include a Joseph, a William, a Thomas, a Richard, a John, a HaiTy, a Robert. The practice of giving a child two or more Christian names has become fairly common. It is a practice which is comparatively modern, since it dates back only to the beginning of last century. As a rule New Zealanders pick out one or other of the child’s Christian names, employing one only; but, curiously enough, in America, where all sorts of schemes are devised to save time and labour, it is common to give a child two names and to use both. Thus if a girl is christened “Margaret Ann ’’ she is called “Margaret Ann,”.and if her Christian names are “Elizabeth Mary ” she is addressed as “ Elizabeth Mary.” In connection with the practice of bestowimg several Christian names, a group of Frenchmen, impressed with the expenditure of effort and money that it entailed, have requested their Parliament to pass a Bill limiting the nuipber of Christian names to two. Most French people have several Christian names, sometimes as many as live. It is contended that the curtailment mentioned would not only save time, but would save the nation much money by reducing the expenditure on typists and paper. The following story is related, not because it embodies any advice on the matter of choosing a name, but because it shows how a Christian name actually resulted in a. commoner becoming a king:—Eighty years ago a- negro asserted that lie had been divinely appointed to be Emperor Hayti. His statement was believed, and he was duly crowned under the title of Faustin I. Now, thirty miles from Hayti is the island of La Gonave. It has an area about twice that of the Otago Peninsula, and is a dependency of Hayti. Living in the hills of La Gonave is an old blind soothsayer, who has Jong since prophesied that one day Faustin would miraculously reappear to reign once again The scene now changes to the small town ol Pittston, Pennsylvania (U.S.A.), Thirty-five years ago a boy was born to a couple named Wirkus. The parents could not agree on a Christian name for the boy. The priest who came to christen the child was asked to select a name, which he did, and»the child.was baptised “ Faustin.” _ When Faustin Wirkus grew up he joined the American array. Meanwhile,-because of the constant revolutions in Hayti, the American Government had established a- benevolent protectorate over that republic. . Sergeant. Wirkus was amongst the’marines drafted to Hayti, and when the authorities wanted a man to represent, them on La Gonave he elected to go. He was taken over tq the island in an aeroplane, where he settled down, the only white man in a population of 10,000 negroes. We may wonder whether these happenings were only coincidences, but the negroes had no doubts. This Faustin, who had come among them bearing authority, was surely the first Faustin reincarnated, and they insisted on crowning him king, and king he still is.