National Republican. (Washington City (D.C.)) 1872-1888, 1882-03-18

some facotlous combinations The registers reveal
an Ernod ffoag Winter, nnd 1uiamn Winter, a Win-
t,T Summers and I've CtristRtds and n Time Of
Day. Sometimes q prefix is so judicously chosen
aud applied to an ordinary cognomen that title
Of dignity Is the result. We have In the registers
those records further disclose amoug other absurd
oonjunctlons. the following: Emperor Adrian. Rose
salmon fSsf, EfsdbeM F6oi BaI, John tdte Bafer,
Tue Cdse, Major Minor, Phgle Nqior Kcy, Helen
IigM Cord, WRidin Rd'her Broton, HctrB Speaks
Hoish, Thomas Christmas Bor, and NeIrboTn Child
Odd names owing their creation TO misceldneoHs
fdncies might obviously be more accurately classed
il only knowledge OF the facts which helped to
but in the absence Of this knowledge Il becomes
necessary to resort TO some such inclusive head
ing as that now TO be dealt with Who could von-
tnre, for example, TO state on what principle
wiltshire girl inheriting the family surname
SnOok came, not very many years lngo 10 be called
WeGlaNt VIZ. VINO would presume 70 declae @ wny a
three years back, was named Sunf or, to match
this glorlons Apollowith suitable Phoebe, whence
Lama MWiccnt Nation, who figures among our
notes for a somewhat later period derived her FIRST
appellation2 A quarryman at Portland, surnamed
Wmfe, recently called his inf1nt daughter Mary
Ardldnche. He would scarcely be personally
familiar with Alpine disasters Is II TO be inferred
that the second name implies the child's unwel-
come descent upon, an, unready household
Again, what volcanic impulse can have produced
such forenamo as that OF Mrs. EtHd Brookin0,
whom we noticed as having become mother at
S@iSs9 @Ss mott mot long snSS7 i Is quite mPo9s st 70
dlesas difficult of solution and classification as
the foregoing-may be propounded. The registers
Introduce us to Doctor Alfred, n Tea B0t0ll
q Longitude Blake, Crescenee Boot, al Ephrain
Very OK n Hempseed Bdrrdss n P,rlp Buctdnd, a
Married Bro'on, Ia QuRv Booty, Sfr Dusty En-
Some namo. choosers indulge q fancy for ex-
treme breyity in personal nomenclature This iii-
dulgence reaches its most foolish extent when
single letters are inserted in the registers In-
ltihls, or what may be supposed 10 bo such, have
from ,lme 10 lime appeared as names IN those
out the addition of othcrappellauons in competer
form. Er, Is No, and S are recorded names
The opposite taste for very voluminous denomina.
tons now aud then displays itself Thomas Hu
Joseph Napoleon BoRdpdrto Hordtio sigindielairS
Ncson Is nn inconRruous nnsI. sI.ssss...ss. Tss.cn
length se"...s 20 nave been aimed at more than
HaSatk William wa @ SeaS poSdeoet HS mSy be cassed
with IT, Then, again, in the higher ranks we
sometimes hnd ancestral names piled very heavily
upon single heads as in the case Of Lpulph Hde'
tdAo Odin Meteor Egbert LyOnei ToedBid0 Hugh Err
cheR,cgne Saxon Esd CromiOen Neville DgsGrt Plan
tdgCnet TOYeFrdche- TOlemdche
There is n kind of oddly In personal nomen-
clnture which arises from seeming discrepancy
between name aud sex For instance, man bear
the name of JdSi-the wife of Heber the Kenite-
lately died near Nowberry; laborer at 1xworth,
named Peck, registered his son George Venus In
1871; Ndrgard AosdIom Hughes was born near
Poniypool in 1878, and Noah oaaey recently be-
came mother in the neighborhood of Devices.
Family nomenclature will account for all these
apparent contradictions, and BY reference to II the
to be found The following female names we know
to exist as cognomens Alice, Amy, Ann, Ardbeld,
heSsey Betty Dolly, Eliza, EQcn, Era, EVe, Fanny,
Frances, Hdgdr, HdnHah Hdriiot Helen, Hester,
Jdei, Jane, Judy, Eity Leah, Lucy, Mary,
-Mdrydn Matilda, Mdude, Aeggy, lfiiiicert
Molly, Nan, Nancy, Nanny, NeR, Patty, poHy Psyche,
Rosdm0nd Ruth, Sal, Sally, Sara, Sarah, Susan,
Susanna and Venus. This list by no means eG-
hausts the sum of those surnames which coincide
with personal names of women, but IL furnishes
all that is needed in the way Of example. II will
now be asked, what is the explanation of such
family denominations as these? Many of the
class are not actually female names at ALL but
mere corruptions of mems names and of other
words. A respectable remainder, however are
acknowledged metronymics. These may some
times point to the ilegitmao birth oft founders
OF the families bearing them or they may simply
Indicate that at the point from which the
cognomen dates the lady rather than
the lord was the ruling spirit of the ancestral
household. OF the personal names of men which
have become surnames a large number have been
modified by prciiNes and sutiixes, aud con-
sequently the seeming contradictions now under
consideration cannot be produced through their
means. But others have retained their original
shape The following are or appear to be ex-
amplcs of the latter class; so singular however,
are the transformations which take place in fam
lily nomenclature that not every Instance quoted
can be guaranteed as being in reality that which it
looks like Absdlom, 1dam, 1jGr. Arthur, BdiddDi,
Bertrdul Fer, Gabriel, Conner Hector, Herod, Jack,
Jesse Lazarus, Louis, Matthias, Michael Noah, OiiUer,
Frdm, Ralph, RodGiick, Simon Stephen TOBY, Tommy,
Valentine, Vincent, and Zebedee Will probably be
thought specimens enough to produce.