Nashville union and American. [volume] (Nashville, Tenn.) 1868-1875, 1871-03-26
CURIOsITIEs OF NAMES.
The DrOlieries OF Personal Nomen-
ciature.


clatare.
An English magazine writer, who hss
made study of names, puts together
some OF the curious specimens which he
has discovered in the records of the Regis
trar Generals Office. The Welsh Calvin
lsts, II appears, indulge in eccentric
names, borrowed from Scriptural works
ano titles las, for example, the namo Of
hanersnalaihashbaz, which is borne bY
an unfortunate citizen of Bridgend. At
Iremadoe, there is a Hosanna. and q
Sinai at Lanidan; also Selah near Mon
mouth. The oddities of Old Testarr ert
nomenclature are clearly attractive to
some Tor their own sakes; there are twins
in the Welsh registers named respectively
HUI and Buz. But, further, the titles of
the bad characters of the Bible are not un-
frequently selected and given to children,
such as Absalom, Cain, Delilah, Herodsn
Pharaoh. The most preposterous title
taken from the Bible occurs in the regis
tiers as belonging to the father of q child
whose birth was recorded not long after
civil registration began in Great Britain.
IL must, therefore, have been given by
some minister of religion at baptism. or.
at any rate, it was not bestowed under the
auspices of a Government officer. tbs
no less painful an sppellstion than Eli
Lama Sabechthani. An Acts Apostles is
also to be found in the registers, and
Talitha Cumi. A request was recently
made 10 q Norfolk registrar to enter q
child's name as Verify. On inquiry il
turns out that the parent ignOrantly IA
miliar with the Scripture expression,
verify, say unto you, believed that
verify was the title of the person adj
dressed. In this case the advice of the
registration officer was followed, and
more sensible name adopted.
Not many years ago, mother took her
child to a registrar in Manchester, that
its birth might be recorded. When asked
what name she intended to give hez baby,
she answered Alpha Omega. The regis
trAr properly inquired whether she had
duly considered the matter, and whether
1t was her deliberate intention to infict
upon the infant such extraordinary titles.
certainly" she replied, she child IL
my hrst, and hope it may be my last. y
One extraordinary fancy is shown in the
employment of sdjectives as names,
which, it seems, are often intended
IS descriptions of the infants 10
whom they are applied, but which
sometimes appear simply 10 re-
present the desires of the parents on their
children's account. Amorous, Dear, Fa-
miliar, Gracious, Marvellous, Pleasant,
Righteous, Urgent Wonderful, are all to
be found in the British registers Under
the same head must be included the
following remarkable and sometimes puz-
cling combinations, which are selected
for quotation from among many others
of similar description: Amiable Read
ing, Celestial Miller, Charming Nancy
Wiltshire, Choice Pickerel, Dirty King,
Enough Pearson, Giddy Edwards, Holy
Davies, nlustrious Sarah Hendry, Modern
Leggs, Original Bigot Peele, Paramount
Pye, Perfect Sparrow. Singular Onion
Gallehawk, Stubborn Porter and Tenn
pestuous Singer.
POPULAR NAMES.
The following table exhibits the pOpu-
lar names of the day. Ii is based on the
first or leading Names of 100, 600 chill
dren--50, 900 males and so, 900 females
registered in England three years ago: