Indiana American. [volume] (Brookville, Ind.) 1833-1861, 1855-06-15
ssIsttso GaIt.


hed !" the case oil MIR. Lew, who ap-
pearcd as witness before the Lord
Mayor of London.
What is your Cnristian name, Mr..
Levi?' said tie civic iuclionary.
Ihave not got any. My Lord" was
the reply. Il aIa jew. brit my first
name is Moses
Variors are the tastes in the selection
of nai g foT n child--yariods are the
motives that influence the decision -
Sometime rich friend of relative is
to be conciliated. anI therefore some
barbara designation Is affixed /. to n
child. that isa thorn in lis side rs long
as he lives; ard a,ier all, the unfortu-
nate, .as y m SIS {. c exn n'c'ed legacy
Sometimes the r..ne o. so nc distir-
Iguished nm is selected, 10 which the
life of the new wea,er adds no new
lus.re; thus we zee George Washing
ton and John Wesley occasienly fgur
Ing in u c ,l'ce epo.ts, rs the names
Of people arrested for riot or petty lar.
cency. A classical tas.e inspires 9TH
ers, who are not always very parti u
lar in tfe ran c, p o,ided they smack
of the ancients. osing to which, it
happens, that the. is bog no = living
in Philadelphia wio ias bee, christen-
ed-ifve M y t.r-r tie woft-af-
ter Commodus, ole of tie most infa-
nous o. tie Rome Emperors.
TIE late Bishop Chase, of Illinois,
he'd dislike to irving Greek and
Raman names imposed upon children,
which he displayed very pointedly on
one occasio.l when youns child was
brought'to him % be baptized.
''Na.ac th;s c;lild," said the bishop.
'Mareas Tullus Cicero answered
the fath>r.
'Wbat?'
Marcus Tullius Ciero.'
'Tutl tutl with your heather non
sensel Peter, l baptize thee, and the
child was Peter, thcnceforth and for
ever.
Others, again, set much store by
Scripture names, many Of which TO our
ea. 5. ale anything but melodious-fcr
instance, Obediah, and jeremiah, and
all the other ioks; but this fashion is
not near so pe.,alers, as was cen
tury or two ego. Some OF the Bible
names have much sv eetness. such as
Beulah, 1uhan ali end Rhoda, but ev-
en- these are rarely used.
The story is well krown of n man,
who having called fodr sons after
Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John, wish
ed to have the ii,th chr;st"led Acts,
because, hc sad nc wanted 10 COM
pliment the apostles BIZ" but the Sc
quel. us civ, n by Mr.. Lower, in the
last edition o. his vaIcable work ON
English surnames," is not so familiar
to us. II appears that iie father had
two other sons. who were ch'stened
Richard aid Tholas. a d that the
story OF the name that had been pro-
posed for No. 8, &. ting wind amongst
his schoolmates, he was corstaltly
annoyed with having this disich re-
lpcated, which, 's OF bctt r metre than
rhyne-
| "Mathew, Mark, Luke, and John.
Acts Of 'Postes, Dick aud Tom.n
Some persons appear to have tried
how near they could come TO the
height of absurdiiy. in giving names
to their children. Benjamin Stokely,
the drst white settler in Mercer Co.,
Pennsylvania (whose account thereof.
lis in the fourth volume Of Memoirs OF
the Historical Society Of Pennsylvan-
lia, gave most extraordinary names to
all his children; at pres ut; but one Of
them occ' IS TO our memory, Au ora
Borealil which he thought prop
er 20 designate ore OF his daughters
Mr. S,ickney. distant relative ofDr
Franklin, numbered his children, call
ed them, One Stickney, Two Stick.
ney. &c.
We will venture 10 add n few rules,
which a.c tie result Of our reflections
upon this 81 Djec
/. The son should not be called af.
ter the father. nor the daughter after
the mother.
The object of giving first names is
to distinguish n persoi from all Others
bearing the same last ramc. particular.
" from those of his immediate fcmiy,
but this latter is not attained v hen u
child bears the names of its parent
Confusion must always follow. not al.
ways To be avoided by the additions ol
senior and junior, or the designations,
1st, ed. dc, which are common in New
England.
An eminent lawyer, who adorned
the Philadelphia bar forty or fifty
years ago, had son with the sam,
first name as himself, who WAS study
3, ing law in his Office. One daya letter
arrived without an addition of Junior
but intended for the younger. whicl
, the elder gentleman opened aud read
II was from source notyery credlta
bic to any one.
81 am ashamed of you," said th'
father Indignantly. handing it TO hi
son.
| am ashamed ofyou, sir, replied
the son, handing il back. with his fing
er pointed 10 the direction.
One of the sons of Benjamin Stoke
ly, Of whom we have spoken above
was born during his fathers absenc,
from home. On his return. his wifi,
tod him that she had called tho chile
Benjamin, after him.
None of that cried he, Il have n,
notion OF hearing people talking ofol'
Ben Stokely.
The confusion is one objection 10 tn
practice which we condemn; anothe
IS. that ifa parents calls child afte
himself, he is in danger of becoming
partial to that child. at the expense q
the others. This is feeling whic
makes its way into the minds of eve