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Show M . ' standing resolves his son will have no every fond mother hoped ttiat her llt- ueh cause of lamentation. Thus the tie Teddy would some day be as great next generation of the family may a man as the hero of San Juan hill, sign It 'Reginald Willoughby Smith' Twenty years from now the poll books . . ii . .l.a.lll notion mill Un onnlohnH tirlth Oil 7 By ELMO SCOTT WATSON U-W" "tT "TT HAT'S In a name?' Is once asked Will ff Shakespeare, and yr y then in reply to his own question declared that a rose under any other '- title would have the same fragrance. thus giving us the axiom that names after all are matters of comparatively little Importance. But Shakespeare's dictum is not necessarily true when applied to the naming of children. Names are an Important part of personality, per-sonality, and since they must be kept for a lifetime they should be satisfactory satisfac-tory to those who own them and have to answer to them through all the years of their existence. Several thousand years ago Socrates said: "The giving of names is no small matter, nor should It be left to chance or to persons of mean abilities'." abil-ities'." Of course, no fond parent of a new baby no doubt the most won derful baby that ever was born would admit that he or she Is a "person of moan ability" when it comes to selecting select-ing a name for their offspring. But the offspring themselves might have different views on the matter, and many of them doubtless wish that they had some say In selecting the "handle" by which they are known by their fellow men. Prof. George R. Siewart, Jr. of the University of California, Cali-fornia, who has completed a survey of thousands of Christian names to determine de-termine the popularity trend from 1.370 to the present time and coupled It with a study of names, declares that three out of every four men bear a secret grudge against their parents for the namo that was fastened on them when they were young and defenseless. defense-less. " "There are few men who don't wish they had a different first name," says l'rofes-sor Stewart, In reporting on the results of his survey in an article in the magazine. Children. "This Is due principally, 1 believe, to the fact that they are tired of their Christian title just as a person may become tired of always seeing the same face when he looks in the mirror. But It rests more substantially. In cases, because be-cause parents have placed on them either too 'highfalutin' or too commonplace common-place names, as the Individual tastes or self-rating may vary. A father who has bemoaned havflig to bear 'Perclval Algernon' all his life Is quite likely to term his offspring 'John' or 'James, wlille one who has found George Irksome Irk-some as Inadequate to his dignity or standing resolves his son will have no ueh cause of lamentation. Thus the next generation of the family may sign It 'Reginald Willoughby Smith' and be equally dissatisfied." "What's In a name?" a great deal, at least so far as numbers are concerned con-cerned in the case of certain names. Take Mary, for Instance. If you could stand on a mountain top and in a voice that could be heard from Maine to California, should call "Maryl" an army of 2,000,000 women and girls would answer. And If you shouted "William" from that same eminence, approximately 2,500,000 masculine voices would answer. Despite the preponderance of Marys, however, that name is gradually grad-ually losing its popularity, accordingly according-ly to Professor Stewart. In 1905 Mary led the list of girls' names, one in fourteen. Today she Is gradually giving way to Elizabeth, who now rank3 first. Next to Elizabeth and Mary In order, are Helen, Dorothy, Marie, Katherlne, Louise, Ruth, Eleanor Elean-or and Evelyn. In 1905 Anna, Grace, Emily, Alice, Caroline, May, Emma and Mable were very popular names, but they seem to be losing out now. Usually there Is some direct reason for fashions In names as witness the case of Edna. Up until 1870 Edua was a comparatively rare name. Then came the publication of the book "St. Elmo" with its saintly heroine, Edna Earl. Imruedia-tely there was a boom In Ednas which has continued to this day. How do you account for the recent re-cent popularity of Jeans and Joans? Easy! The millions of men who served over there from 1917 to 1919 brought back with them the memories of France, which has resulted in a veritable ver-itable deluge of these two names. As for men's names there does not seem to have been as great changes in popularity as in women's names. Forty years ago William and John were the commonest names, and today they still lead the list The only three common names that have shown much decrease are Henry, Frederick and Thonifts, and they have been replaced to a large extent by Harold, Arthur and Francis. However, masculine names occasionally reflect current fashions Just as do their sisters. If you are introduced to a man named "Dewey Jones," you can guess Ids age at thirty years and you won't be more than a year or so off. For It was Just thirty years ago that the hero of Manila bay was the popular idol In the United States, and hundreds hun-dreds of parents found no difficulty, whatever. In selecting a name for their boy babies. And those who weren't called "Dewey" were called by the more Imposing name of Theodore because every fond mother hoped that her little lit-tle Teddy would some day be as great a man as the hero of San Juan hill. Twenty years from now the poll books of the nation will be enriched with an astonishing number of new voters whose last name will be anything from Smith to JablonskI, but whose first two names will undoubtedly be Charles Lindbergh. And his playmates play-mates won't call him Charlie, if he has anything to say about it Of course, there is a danger in following fol-lowing the fashion of the hour in hanging some popular-at-that-tlme title on the child. At the beginning of the Twentieth century, when the nouveau riche set out to get social distinction along with their money they decided that their sons would have "ritzy" names. So a lot of Percys, Algernons, Reginalds, and some Clarences became candidates for the Social Register, and today these boys are trying to live down the idea of their fellow men that they were once clad in little Lord Fauntleroy suits with white ruffled ruf-fled collars and wore their hair in curls. In addition to his investigations as to the relative numbers and reason for personal titles, Professor Stewart In his survey also offers some suggestions sugges-tions to parents when they are confronted con-fronted with the age-old problem of naming the baby. In brief here are some of them: Beware of current fads in names. Your child will grow up as one of a crowd, Instead of with a distinctive name of its own and may live to regret re-gret it Take thought as to initials. Consider Consid-er the case of the poor girl named Alberta Al-berta Susan Spear! Don't mix your nationalities. Despite De-spite the popularity of "Abie's Irish Rose," Kathleen Guggenheimer is not a good combination. Neither Is Gretch-en Gretch-en Flaherty nor Renee Stokes. If the last name is "strong," tone it down with a softer first name. The Quigley and Higgins families should j chose Barbara or Jeanette rather than j Eliza or Violet The more neutral your last name is the wider choice you j have for the first name. That's one of the advantages of being a Smith. And last and most Important of all, unless you want to win the undying resentment of your scions, don't play Jokes upon them, especially if your I last name happens to be somewhat ' "tricky." Consider the case of the governor of Texas who named his two daughters Iraa and Ura. For his name was Hogg! Remember, also, the girls who went through life (unless (un-less they married) bearing the titles of June Day, Mary Christmas, Helen Burne, Helen Boyle, and Marietta Fish. |
