THE CURIOSITIES OF CHRISTENINGS.

Otago Witness, Issue 2375, 7 September 1899, Page 56

THE CURIOSITIES OF CHRISTENINGS.

Among the thousands of people who go through life cherishing a grudge against their parents for giving them absurd or incongruous names, there are many who have a very legitimate grievance. It»is little wonder, for instance, that a demure and pretty girl in a North London suburb feels resentful when she has to answer to the name of " Busybody," given to her by a sporting father in honour ,of the winner of the "One Thousand. Guineas " 15 years ago ; and among the names registered at Somerset House in 1898 are " Airs and Graces" and "Nun Nicer," which j>re innocently borne by two little gtrls who are still in the throes of teething, but who may firtd them embarrassing 15 years hence. The appalling' name of " Wellington Wolseley Soberts" is borne by a young man who in disposition and appearance is anything but militant, and as little likely to win fame on the battlefield as his predecessors, " Arthur Wellesley Wellington W.ater-

loo Cox" and "Napoleon the Great Eagar." Among other bellicose names which are to be found in registers of birth are "Robert Alma Balaclava Inkerman Sebastopol Delhi Dugdale," who is said to be an innkeeper's I son ; and " Richard Cceur de Lion Tvler Walter Hill." Even these names, misleading as they may be, are to be preferred to " Roger the Ass," "Anno Domini Davies," and " Boadicea Basher." Marriage plays some strange tricks with names, as Miss Annie Jackson discovered to her dismay when, on marrying Henry Seed, she had to sign her name " Annie Seed." It was a worse fate even than this that awaited Miss Kate R. Marsden, a Yorkshire bride, when on marrying Mr Herbert Wall she found her name converted into " Kate R. Wall," a name suggestive of the midnight cat. When Miss Maud Harker, a few years ago, became Mrs Lynn, she was shocked to find that, in spite of her temperate habits, she was to be-known thenceforth as "Maud Lynn." Even if the name escapes this rude perversion, the initials are not always so fortunate. When ' Miss Clara Ann Potts married a gentleman of the harmless name of Thomas, she had to abandon initials for ever, for she was, scarcely prepared to sign herself' C. A. T. 'And who can blame her? Nor can we blame another married lady lor abjuring initials which condemned her as a P. R. U. D. E., which was by no means a true description of her. There are many people, however, who are condemned to bear unfortunate combinations' of initials and names without the compensating solace of matrimony. A London gentleman, whose name is H. A. Stacke, is irreverently known as " Haystack " ; another bears the name of N. Oudle, which, his friends are only too ready to* corrupt into " Noodle " ; while another unlucky man, who, as the fifth boy in his "family, was christened Quintus, has to go through life labelled as " Q. Cumber." Parents of large families need no assurance that the advent of another- child is not always as welcome in fact as in theory ; but it is scarcely kind to make the unexpected child bear a token of disapproval all its life. It must be rather terrible to go through life, for example, as " Not Wanted James," "What Another," "Only Fancy William Brown," or even as " Last of 'Em Harper," or " Still Another Hewitt." And yet these are all names which the foolish caprice of parents has imposed on innocent children. It is better even to bear names which, however undesirable, have a Scriptural sanction, such as " Talitha Cumi," "Jemima," "River Jordan," or even " Mahershalalhashboz," a name which its bearer, a Norfolk man, wisely curtailed to "Maher."