Eureka Reporter | 1906-03-16 | Page 5 | How Indians Are Named

HOW INDIANS ARE NAMED have var nus cognomens at var oua periods of life major frank terry who Is in charge of the indian school on the puyallup reservation is thus quoted by the tacoma washington ledger translations of indian names as a rule have been unsatisfactory though there are exceptions the case is re ported aiom the pawnee reservation oklahoma of an indian named 00 oo rux ruh rah koo the literal in terp of his name as g ven to me is fearing a bear that is wild with this interpretation the agent named him fearing wilde As the indian grows he commits acts from time to time each of which gives him a new name for example he may see a bear and run screaming to a tepee the folks laugh at him and call him afraid of a bear if he braids in his 1 air a yellow feather which he has plucked from the tail ot an eagle he may be called eagletail eagle tail eagle feather v ta 1 yellow feather if 1 e g ves it to his friend he vill be known as gives feather but it he 1 beeps it when ed for it he becomes keep the yellow feather it he has more than one feather the plan resorted to in some quarters of discarding the indian names and fit ting the indians out with names that are p irely english has not worked well for those selected in many cases arp names is in american his tory and this has caused the indians to become the butt of many a joke william penn fitzhugh lee david hill and william shakespeare are the names of indian policemen at the agency wyoming I 1 my self have seen george washington john quincy adams franki n pierce rip van winkle alien G Thur naan and hilary A herbert engaged cr in a game