Green-Mountain freeman. [volume] (Montpelier, Vt.) 1844-1884, 1855-03-15
From an article in Putnam for January

expected legacy. Sometimes the name OF some
distinguished man is selected, to which the life
of new wearcr is no lustre; thus we see George
Washington and John Wesley occasionally fig
uring in the police courts, as the names of peo-
pie arrested for riot or petty larceny. A CLASH
cal taste inspires others who are not always
very particular in the names, provided they
smack of the ancients, oweing to which it hap
pens that there is a boy now living in Philadel-
phia who has been christenized-if we may thus
use the word-after Commodius, one of the most
Infamous of the Roman Emperors.
The late Bishop Chase, of Illinois, had dis
like to having Greek and Roman names imposed
upon children, which he displayed very pointed
ly occasion, when child was brought to him to
be baptized.
"Name the child" said the bishop.
"Marcus Tullius Cicero" answered the ia
ther.
" WHAT"
"Marcus Tullius Cicero
"Tut, tut, with your heather nonsense
Peter, baptize thee" and the child was Peter,
thenceforth and forever"
Others, again, set much store by Scripture
names, many of which to our ears are anything
but melodious-for instance, Obadiah Jeremiah.
and all the other iahs; but this fashion is not
near so prevalent as it was a century or two ago.
Soma oe tho R;h1a no MAG hoya much swnatness
such as Beulah, Ruhamah, and Rhoda, but even
these arc rarely used.
The story is well known Of the man who, hav-
ing called four sons after Matthew, Mark, Luke
and John, wished to have the fifth ehristeasd
Acts, because, as he said, be I" wished to conpli
mcnt the apostles bit;' but the sequel, as Civ
en- by Mr.. Lower, in the last edition of his val
liable work on English surnames," is not sc
familiar to US. 1t appears that the father had
two other sons, who were christened Richard and
Thomas, and that the story of the name that
had been proposed for No. 5, getting wind amnog
his associates, he was constantly annoyed with
having this distitch repeated, of better metre
that rhyme -
l Matthew, Mark, Luke and John,
! Acts of 'poses, Dick and Tom.
Some persons appear to have tried how near
they could come to the height of absurdity, in
giving names to their children. Benjamin Stoke
ly the first white settler in Mercer county, Penn
sylvanis, (whose account thereof is in the fourth
volume of the Memoirs of the Historical Society
of Pennsylvania, } gave most extraordinary names
to his children at present, but one of them oc-
eurs to our memory-Aurora Borealis-by which
he thought proper so designate one of his daugh-
ters A Mr.. Stickney distant relative of DR..
Franklin, numbered his Children calling them
One Stickney, Two Stickney, sc. We might
mention here, the case of Mr.. New, who is said
to have called his first child Something, and the
next Nothing but the story is probably the
creation of the fertile imagination of Mr.. Joseph
Miller or some of his successors.
, We will venture to add few rules, which
are the result of our reflection upon this sub
ject:
L. lne SOL SnOulu uOb Do CIlleu dlteF nto Ia
} ther, OF the daughter after the mother.
The object in giving first names is to distin-
, guish person from all others bearing the same
last name, particularly from those of his imme.
diate family but this latter is not attained
, when child bears the name ofits parent. Con,
) fusion must always follow not always to be
\ hx,t tba afs and m
the designations LIST, I'd, &C., which are COM
, mon in New England.
An eminent Philadelphia lawyer who adorned
J the bar forty or fifty years ago, had a son with
the same name as himself, who was studying
law in his Office. One day letter arrived with
out any addition of junior, but intended for the
younger, which the elder gentleman opened and
read. 1t was from source not very creditable
to any one.
!. 81 am ashamed Of you," said the father, in
dignantly, handing it to his son.
81 am ashamed of you, sill" replied the son
, handing it back, with his finger pointed at the
i, direction
One of the sons Of the Benjamin Stokely oi
whom we have spoken above, was born during
his fathers absence from home. On his return
his wife told him that she had called him Ben
. jamin, after him. None Of that" cried he
81 have no notion of hearing people talking o
( old Ben Stokely."
s This confusion is one objection to the practic
$ which we condemn another is that if paren
: calls child after himself, he is in danger 0
, becoming partial to that child at the expense o
the Others This is a feeling which makes it
0 way into the minds of even good men and goo,
l women it seems to some that child bearing
their name in full, is more fully their represen
tative than others. As this is all wrong, it
i best to prevent such feelings by giving no occa
9 sion for their existance.
o 2. The more common a last name is, the NOR
Q uncommon should the first name be-. We ca
pardon almost any prefix to Smith, Brown an