NAME THE CHILD.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20287, 21 December 1927, Page 10

NAME THE CHILD.

THE AMUSING SIDE OF BAPTISM.

Those who have never had to name a baby are unaware of the penis and pitfalls that proud parents must avoid (sap the Rev. Desmond Morse-Boycott in the Daily News). And yet, in spite of the anxious consideration bestowed by parents on the apparently trivial matter of a name, most tragic mistakes occur. When Mr and Mrs Cass decided to call the baby Jack, after its rich uncle, they kne#bot what they did. But the baby s sufferings afterwards! Antony Spencer Simpson sounds pretty and disarming, but such a child is doomed to write his name in full for life, not daring to use initials. In my experience parents seldom give such matters a thought. It is good enough if a name sounds pretty or imposing. It is not true to say that parents now provide outlandish names for children. That they used to is well known. Such periods as the Boer war pro\ ided plenty of Kitchener Smiths and Ladysmith Browns. There was not, I think, any such tendency during the Great War. There has been none since. I have christened about 600 children in the Inst 10 years, and none of them have had names of which I disapproved. Whether a minister may refuse to baptise a child in an outlandish name is doubtful. All names, in origin, are outlandish. He may refuse, however, a definitely pagan name. However much young Jupiter Tompkins wept, proving thereby the aptness of the name, I should refuse him as Jupiter. The only pagan deitv who admits of exception is Diana. Why, I do not know. One makes an exception of months, as they have a sentiment rather than a pagan signification. May or June Augustus are quite proper. , It is a pity that fine old Enghsh_ names are going out of fashion—have, indeed, gone out, save in educated circles. I have never christened an Egbert or an Osmund nor yet an Ethelreda. But Beris are legion and Ethels fairly frequent. Thus emasculated, the Saxon name is lost. “ What is your name? ” Catechism, and the- answer is “ TS. or M.” There are two theories about N. or M. Scholars say it means ‘‘Nomen or Nomina.'- ’ “Name or Names, the final M. being just the double N. of Nomina. . . . NN. in the same way as pp. means pages, and SS. moans saints. The loss educated but, I think, shrewder, view is that N. or M. stand for or 'Mary, once the favourite name for English children. Mary is now infrequently met with at baptisms. and Nicholas hardly ever. There should be much demand for a little book on babies’ names and what to do at christenings. Hours of worry and argument would he avoided if only parents could buy a list of appropriate names. And they might be warned therein that their choice is not irrevocable. It is possible to change your Christian name, or add to it at least, in the Church of England and the Church «f Rome at confirmation

It is sometimes alleged that silence is negative in the Prayer Book, and that the absence of specific instruction in the matter prohibits a change of name. If silence, then, is negative, the parents may not have their babies back when christened, for they are instructed to place them in the arms of the minister, but not a word appears about their due return to their owners.'