RUSSO-SCOTTISH NAMES

Waipa Post, Volume 37, Issue 2191, 2 August 1928, Page 6

RUSSO-SCOTTISH NAMES

When a Russian who had been born at Palkowski 'explained to a London magistrate that he had since changed his. name to Maxwell, he was asked, "Why do you people always take Scots names?" "Because they are easier to pronounce," was the reply. It is an unexpected reason, and one is not quite sure that it sounds convincing. The popular belief in this country rather tends to be that Russians can" pronounce anything—if only by virtue of the practice which they get in pronouncing the printed versions of their own tongue. The witness suggests a different view; that Russians do, perhaps, have difficulties with their own names, so that when a change becomes appropriate they choose something which is easy to say. But are Scottish surnames so much easier to pronounce than English ones? Certainly not in all cases. "Smith" looks easier and is easier than "Colquohoun"; "Brown" ought to present fewer difficulties than "Farquharson." Nor is "Urquhart" a very inviting combination of consonants, and "Menzies" "Daziel," and "Wemyss" are often mispronounced on this side of the Border: Of course, these are not the surnames which are usually selected by ambitious Russian rivals, but they do show that all Scots names cannot be certified as easy for the foreigner to pronounce. No—it may be suspected that prestige rather than pronounciation is at the back of the alien preference for) Scottish labels. Historically, the Scot, like the ambitious Russian, is an invader of this land for his own ends—and a very successful and formidable invader. These later arrivals borrow their surnames because they hope that the mere sight of them will produce that "inferiority complex" and strike helpful terror into the heart of the hapless Saxon.—Manchester Guardian.