Show 1 O O O O CK O GENEALOGy N A L 0 6 Your Christian Name 0 0 0 O O O O O O O O O knows that the name E EVERYBODY given us at christening Is the choice of parents or guardians g But everybody e doesn't know that in old days this name-choosing name was a very i solemn and difficult custom Today It Itt Ite itis t t e is the b by play play of oC the whole holc neighbor neighbor- L I hood If It the child is born of oC a novel novel- E reading mother he gets dubbed Cecil or orf orl l f Irving cr Allan It If he lie Is she then It ItI I is ls Myrtle or Hazel or Pearl or Goldie I If tho the mother Is Ie to be recognized InI InthIs in I thIs naming process then her good hood old name r name of Mary Ann becomes Marian Marlan becomes Beth and Rachel Is t dubbed Ra Ray Indeed there is no end tto nicknames which have become fled Into dignity by b appearing on the Church records as Christian Frames names per se Time was when a Christian Chris Chris- l juan til tian an name indicated just what and where relatively speaking to place a nan or a woman You could put Temprance Tem Tem- ip prance rance Mather or Makepeace Watson right In the Puritanical column where I they fliey belonged ed Richards gorged or ed the records after the famous Coeur de deson's sons son's romantic crusade Kings poets gave their names b by the hundreds hun- hun to the tiny applicants for christening chris chris- favors In the several countries where her they were ere born But nowadays every national and family line Is dim dim- and Christian names are re more apt to be pagan In origin than not The rite tory of or these necessary appendages Is Isone Isone Tone one of ot passing Interest And the they shall due notice In Jn these columns by and by Shakespeare asked what there was In 4 a name Well ell theres there's a whole thole lot when St ita the wrong name And whoever er had hadl l- l I t the e right name name Algernon envies the tho street brat who is called Tom Torn while Tom rom is nast nasty to his mother with scornful scorn scorn- 1 ful envious en epithets for his own common common com coin mon handle Torn Tom may vent ent it on AI Algy by pasting AIg Algy's s 's face Cace simply as a means mems of or declaring declaring- tho superiority oC ot Tom Torn to Algy but after afler all alJ Tom Torn hates hales his common name quite as much as Algy y despises his violet scented alpen appendage The boy b by the name of Cecil may hate his name nama so 50 badly that thai he cries secretly secret secret- ly h and openly about the mean trick played upon his helpless s bab baby head and he ma may beg beg beg-as as did one Cecil for Cecil for his sister to call can him b by t some tomo Cecil pretty prell name like Peter leter and aull then he lie may os oscillate os- os ciliate forever ore er after utter between the two being conscious always alwa's of tho the cross pl psychical currents that make mako him staid and sensible under Peter and poetic under under un un- un- un der ller Cecils Cecil's influence That would be nothing to the cross that has to be borne b by the son of the whimsical mother who called her son Alonzo at ot birth In honor of or his adored I father rather but bul when the divorce courts untied untied un un- un- un tied that hateful marital knot Alonzo I Iwas was f snipped from the baby and John was substituted for Alonzo In Alonzo-In In honorof honor of or the mothers mother's brother When hen husband number two came canto ui upon on the scene scene John was merged ed into Ronald Honald as the brother objected to number two Ronald had barely got ot used to his mothers mother's backdoor backdoor back back- door shriek shriek Indeed she was Vas a little muddled herself when it came to a quick yell at tho the back bacle porch porch and and then Honald was as changed again Into John as the reconciliation camo caine camo about with the brother Ronald John Is a aman aman aman man now and he lie Is still so shaky shak about his cognomen that he lie answers to any name he happens to hear on the thc street How rarely is Lily a a. delicate blonde and how seldom Is Rose ROie pink cheeked I or passable A man can drop his Al Aigy y y yInto Into a h handy nd Initial and er Boliver Hubert Huberti i I can be shortened into B. B H. H but H.-but but what hat hatI about the poor poor- poor girls whose mothers have o I called them and Ro Roses cs and Hazels and Madges adges anti and Just plain lilain Mary Ian and Jane are lire now no coming coining I back into fashionable society for thero are a few sensible sociologists who I realize that th the poise pohle and stability of a a. nation Js is vas vastI vastly tl augmented by its choice of Christian names nameH Anything that is associated as closel closely as a Christian I name with oneself must of oC n necessity be beof beof beor I I of or great importance The constant Irritation Irrl- Irrl tation of oC a false or 01 Il misleading Christian Christian Chris Chris- tian name has a profound influence upon th the i character of or its possessor A Amaji man maji may rise above above- th the handicap of or Zedekiah but never ne above 1 cur us or Lafayette lIe fie must conceal his name or live forever tore on the edge of It Il through Us its Initial on only 1 With what pride did the girls sign Millie and Tulle Tillie and Minnie and reenie and Lizette anti ami Stella Stelia and Luelle Lucile Luc He and Mamie and und Flossie and nub Ruby a a. q quarter arter of or a century ago abo But nut these names names' have ha lost all dignity and comeliness now and in their place Is a moUe motley of curious anti and wonderfully ond rf concocted cog cog- mom ens Men Ien have sometimes had a fad tad for Cor manufacturing names such as and and Delily and Lathera und and The girls suffer most must from this but butOn tile the parental alteration ven On boj bOI boyo n are sometimes named or Lycurgus L of oC Think of ot car- car carrying ring r such Buch names name as these in ones one's con con- s. s B But t It is done one toda today as asI asI I I everyday er The Tho po possession of or patents of oC nobility gave ga to such parents the license to curse their theil poor babies with ten or a a. dozen Christian names names names-In In order as is one I caustic writer puts It It that numberless godfathers or godmothers might send gal egal gifts gift to tho the new child child but but the custom Is followed d occasionally by hy very ery different mothers It was always a ways an exhilarating moment In one humorous holls household hold when the tue mother across the way CAme out put to n her r back Lack fence and for for for- yelled J. J Martha Alvina AI Sylvia la I MarUla Manila Roxy Rosy de LAnoy ney L Laura Ura Ann Ann Wilson Wilton l a do k you come corne right in the house By the time the neighbors had hall recovered cred from their fits tits of ot lau laughter Hox Boxy de do Laney had Imd reached the back door stoop And n 1 I could never determine which foxy Roxy hated worst her mother or her name I Th Then n there Is m my own Wn name I was wasI quite a disappointment as mother molher did 1 I so want a bo boy But there 1 I was and there thero mother was When father Cather came I into the sacred chamber of oC my pre presence ence he looked with considerable concern into my puckered pink ll face for he was was was' not equal to mothers mother's ambition She asked him to name me Now No If It there I Is its one thing more than another which i ia a man hates to do lIo it Is to find rid a name I Ifor for a 0 wrinkled squirming bit of or humanIty humanity human human- I ity itt after he lie has named the tile first son after himself and the first daughter after atler his own mother The future Is a 0 nameless blank to him It I In Is therefore therefore there there- fore or adding embarrassment to confusion conCu- conCu zion sion for Jor hl his wife wiCe to suggest cst that he lie shall fish up from flom his hili inner consciousness conscious conscious- ness cognomens for the rest of or the pink bundles which rest reM so lightly on the pillow beside his pale young or old wife He Is quite up to finding fault tault with every ery conceivable name that she may I conjure up during the da days 8 or weeks I that He lie between birth and christening It Is a game of intellectual shuttle cock that the parents play the mother finding find find- lug InS names through the day for tho the fallier fa- fa to toss back and forth with malicious ma ma- licious scorn or light indifference rence when h he ito has reached home eaten his supper milked the cow or looked looke over oer the auto and then entered Into that sacre sacred chamber where his delicate wife lies s waiting waiting- to between the Scylla of or his own choice or or- ortho tho the of his refusal to accept her own po poor r se- se se 1 lection That's the the usual thing thing thing-don't don't dont you know k And there I lay unconscious that I was wag to be shuttled cocked cocked back and forth on the wave of oC parental misunderstanding misunderstanding misunderstanding mis mis- understanding concerning m my Christian ChristianI name An And so so mother asked father In I quite the usual way to pick out a name for his his' and her cherished darling Father Fa Fa- Fa- Fa titer ther like the usual man maim be he was looked two ways for Sunday and said gently senti Oh you name the girls and I 1 will name the tho boys z Now ow that was adding insult to Iron irony only father didn't know it For mother had an bo But mother moth moth- never any an boys s you ou see er like the usual woman shut her pretty prett lips Ups tight over oyer her pretty prett white teeth and turned her head on the pillow to look at quite the usual baby which baby which was I. I Then Than came Into ioto the lie room the bosomed ample nurse who had been there from my 1113 first breath and antI sho she said to mother Dont you rou remember that you promised to name your our bab baby after me If you could not find rInd Another nothel name name So it was An And I was christened christened chris chrls- by bt the tue very er unpopular name of Jt Susannah unpopular Susannah unpopular even e then It may ma mahave h have he e been heen because no Susannah that the world ever e saw unless it was th the fa famous famous famous fa- fa one suspected in Biblical lore was ever anything like a Illy So Sa Susie was I i my appellation tion till it came time for mc me meto meto I to grow v row up UI and get married rhen Then one oneda da day in the solemn conclave of oC a family party father fathel sprung the tho subject of or my m naming boldly asserting like asserting like tho the usual man that man that he lie had named me inc Susan Sus-an after atter a sister he had but hut mother sprang into the breach and helped to contradict my august father b by t telling lIIng the other side I e of ot tho the story stor But father like the usual man 1 v ne nehe he lie was not hot mistaken and I like tho tim w usual ual dau daughter daugh h- h ter tel who loves her father better than her nickname offered then there thereto to be Susan to the time end of or the chapter It was quite R a relief to cut off the nah and bo simple le Susan in legal leal and church records But nut that was wan not the end The careless clerk who vho made fa father father fa- fa a- a ther timer will cut off oct the tho n leaving lug me Susa to all le legal al intents and anti purposes So that lint now flOW I r am Su Susannah annab on my nn baptismal bap bap- roleS role Susan in church chuich r records cords Sum Supa In print and antI legal papers and Su bu and Susie and Aunt Susa to anybody that hat chooses to call me up by bv All of or which proves pro that Christian nam names s are no Joke after all I ha had haa a most solemn aunt and she was really the best housel housekeeper I 1 ever eer I saw taw But DUl it was wa well for her hier that we lawless children didn't know the Hie extent of her Christian appendages or we should ha have rung run the changes on Xo No Carter Kendall Jenkins Twiss Young And even en that was isas as ns nothing compared to the time Ume when Mrs married Mr Startup And that al also o was isas topped by bv Mrs Irs Elizabeth Smith Smith Calkin Smith who was known to ery e dweller In Dixie of oC the tho old days So SoIl and anti consider con con- Il Its It's wen well for tor parents to stop sitter Rider when a Christian name Is It a at l stake Dont Don't make male your our child a pagan b by your choice of ot name nam One other singular thing about names is that lint no woman has hns an any name minnie but buther buther buther her Christian name the tho other name name name- her surname surname surname-Is Is either olther her fathers father's or her husbands Sho has to worry along on In her or stupid or quaint or prett pretty pretty pret pret- reflecting ref In her t ty Christian n name final name narn the tribe or family of or her father or husband However cr It does not so much matter Women get all hints that's coming to them them them-In In Utah Utah and and sometimes a lot more Fanny or Jono Jano or Lillian will IH always he be ready rendy to hear hearlie of the b by bytho bytho the lie faint whisperings serpent lon long before tho tree as she fhe he will hear Its It's uttered the lie I love o note of ot her best hest beau or the tho Cr cry of her child In the tho Her solemn solen n hu hush l of or the morn anie Is 18 the queerest what yoU vou vil tn She dearest earst And end fairest One In all the tho world to Him JIlin |