QUEER HUN NAMES

Thames Star, Volume LII, Issue 13820, 9 October 1918, Page 5

QUEER HUN NAMES

CURIOUS SIDELIGHTS ON CER- " • MAN MENTALITY. Odd surnames aire to be found in every nation 1; but in, Europe,' ior ' dawi3|nighiti' eccentricity, vuhafity, obscenity and unpleasantness generally, the palm must readily be •awarded to Germany, in whose direo- - tod-ies appear cognomen® ' oae can. hardly imagine being »uifeir'ed l>y intelligent individuals of any nationality (writes Henry de Halsalte. author of "Degenerate. Ci en many"). Very many of these German surnames suggjest most unpleasant origin, while • collectively they cast a. curious ■ sideligh/b on the mentality of thei modern Hum:.

For a. surname is at one© a history, orig}ipally designating 1 occupation!, estate, place of ' residence, some' particfulair' thing or event that relaited tovthe person, or, perhaps, some physical l peculiarity of the origtaial owner's—as we see in English names such, as Jarpenter.. Woodville, Blackburn', Strong i' tih,' Ann, WMtdhoad~ aaid so '»n, -" •

In. tihe finst place Uiere is Wilhelm 11. of Germany, whose family patlioaiymio is Hohenzollea-n. English his nanne, cub dmvn all his resounding! titles, and we Hud him plain William Higjhtaixeir. ■

In the Berlin Directory are 'to be found a uLeijgymian inui^ed Brawlor, a 'captain of infantry named. Sourheri ring, ai milliner lamed Mrs Blisterviliaige, and a rate collector who can scarcely rejoice his mm© of Murderl Wo also' ijnd a professor of vtheology named Hatred, .and. an accountant named Extortioner. Mrs Wicikedvillagie. is a laundress, Mr Cowardly is a. police official, Mr Scorn is a cfaeesei-ioroger, and Mr Gi'antcabbagei an enginieer.

What 'intelligleait Bdton, 4 for instanoe, would care 10 have insca*ibed omi hie or her visiting card as a surnaimte any one of the foilowirig English equivalents for German individual names listed, iai the Berlin and Hamburg- Directories Muudev'l, Squint, Littl«beaat, Gizzardi, .Chli^hatmountain, Bfemstcon"pw, Falsehood, Cat, Buglife, .Gooee-eye, MustardHfe, Cucumber,. Rage, Pot&prihkleTi Doornail. Oat'selbow, Hofrse-deooiver, FrotUnKMn,tialm, ."Pfainhaiidle, TSgeb^tream, DombleffrouHi^b, Soisi*ar^-<»a-iicr, or Scoundrel?

Yet these hundreds of others like them, are the patroavmies of modern Berliners. Such names uttered

among German® occasion no: surprise, afford no humour; they aae quite usual But a 'German royal duke who beaa^s the farcical to tie of "Brown Bo Silent" is the- limit. Such a. one figured in the "Almanach da Gotha." some years ago. and may be there *+-ill. for aught I know—or 1 soma successor.

Deuteehlaind, in its original menuing, is Heafchemland. a ntim© much* more appropriate thin. ''Germany" —-which would seem to be of honest Keltic origin. As,most"of the world knows, Wil•helm 11. styites himself. 'Der Allea'hochste—The All-Highest. Each tiirie he returns to his capital tlie.fact, is 'amnoukiced in ■ ih& following o\it rasjjeoiig and ungrammatdoal formula. —-'"His Majesty air© leturned to Berlin. All T Highest the Saaaie Ones ("Allerhocihstdieseliben) nejoioe theimseives in possession of a blooming health," eta. According to '.ho Berlin Press, Withelm still enjoys his "blooming health." One is tempted to wonder for how long.