The Columbian. [volume] (Bloomsburg, Pa.) 1866-1910, 1870-04-22
SflisttllaNruus.
W0MEN'S NAMES.

The names of women should be agreeable
sot, clear, captivating the fancy, ending in long
| Nowe resembling words of fbenediction, ,'-LdtOS
| Of Menu.
On certain occasion, two French
ambassadors were sent to the Spanish
court to negotiate marriage between
one Of the Castilian princesses and Louis
VII. The names of the royal females
were Urraca and Blanche, the first of
whom was the elder and the more beau
tiful, and was intended by the court for
the French king, but the ambassadors
persisted in their preference for Blanche
on account OF her name, saying that
| Urraca would never do. They were
sensible men. So Blanche was made
queen because she had fair name, and
Blanche is always .Jaire,i not beautiful.
Is there not something in name?
bespeai the thanks of the yet un-
named generations, on whom | hope to
confer great and lasting benefits by call
ing attention to our personal nomencla-
ture. | will confine myself in the pres
ent communication to women's names.
There are nearly two hundred femi-
nine Christian names which may be
considered rs either native or natural
| lied among us, but scarcely fifty of
these are in anything like general use.
Anna, Alice, Caroline, Catharine, Eliza
beth, Eliza, Ellen, Emma, Fanny, Har.
riet, Jane, Julia, Lucy, Louisa, Mary,
Martha, Margaret, Sophia and Susan,
with perhaps few others, are univer-
sal. They are all good names when
understandingly applied, and l would
not discourage the use of one of them,
but there are Il hundred others, equally
good, which are seldom or never used.
! Our poverty in the matter of personal
appellations is truly distressing, as illus
| trated il the fact that in almost every
neighb0rhoOd one may find two or three
Marys and as many Fannys, EIlens,
and Lizzies, creating great confusion
unless we make use of the surname
also in speaking of each individual
Mary, Ellen, or Fanny. To avoid this
continual repetition, we should bring
into use greater variety of pretty
names.
Mary, although some etymologists
translate it mm'ah (6Hter), is one Of the
sweetest as well as the commonest ever
given to women. prefer to consider
it as signifying ecatted, Or, as another
authority has it, star Of tie sea. Maria
and Marie (the latter being French) are
merely other forms of the same name,
and, Of course, have the same meaning.
Martha means bitterness, which, alas !!
is too often significant of the lot of wo.
man! but our Marthas may be sweet
girls in spite of the etymologists.
Anna, Anne, Hannah, and probably
Nina and Nancy, are all from the same
root, signifying gracious or kind, of
which fact the fair owners of these pre-
nomens will please to take notice, and
govern themselves accordingly. Jane,
now generally familiarized into Jenny
(please don't write it Jenny y though
differently derived, has the same mean
ing rs the foregoing.
Ellen was originally Helen (Latin,
HeleRd; French, HeleHe). According
to some etymologists, it has the mean
ing Of dtlaFiRg, while Others define it as
one WhO pHies. Many II Helen, since
she of Troy, has proved alluring, and
some have shown that pity which is
akin to love. Ella is only variation
of Ellen.
For Sarah (IIebrew, Sara or Slria !
and Arabic, Zardl we find two defni-
tions-a princess and the morning star.
Lucy signifies Hke hght,and the name
was anclently given to girls born at
day-hreak. Aurora, Aureola, and Au-
rore golden, the da'Cn or morning red
ness; Bertha (Grigh0, and Clara (cied,),
may be grouped with it.