The Dickinson press. (Dickinson, Stark County, D.T. [i.e. N.D.]) 1883-1927, 1889-08-03
NAMES FOR OUR GIRLS.
HOW THE SELECTIONS HAVE BEEN
AND STILL ARE MADE.

AND STILL ARE MADE.
Drawing on biblical Characters-Ideas of
the ruritanical People of New England.
What the Anglo-saxons Have Furnished.
\ Few Samples.
Mamma" said lilllo blue eyed Edith
shaking her long curs and looking up with
an amuslnsly puzzled expression, why do
people call their little girls such d'cadfu
names in those ,laysl"
She had been reading aloud from book
dreadful names, childf Why, your own
mother has dreadful name. as you would
call 1t. Yet don't think Naomi is such
dreadful name, nor is your grandmothers-
zirl"r'h,"
'ics, hut why did you get such names,
nsali..a' They sound so odd-so awful
odd"
We'll, Edith. | don't know"
.Nnl so mamma, who is none other than
Mis- Naomi, the accomplished and amable
Vile OF one of the s!ircwdest and most Sue
crsstul business men i'll town. with a palatial
home on Michigan boulevard, sat down at
her cscrtoire of inlaid rosewood and penned
IL few inIuisitivo lines in her neat, old FASH
ioncd handwriting Below an attempt is
made to givea full and unbiased answer to
her questions.
OLD BIBLE NAMES
The resort TO biblical names among tho wo-
men Of this land up to recent years was un-
doubtcdly due to tho fcrvent puritanical
spirit pcrvnding our nation-or at least the
New England portion of it. The male chill
drcn were given tho names of Old Testament
heroes, and tho girl babies received names
that stood for types of early Hcbraic virtue,
beauty and gentlcncss. Tho Puritan mind Of
New England had in its sternness, austerity
and inllcxibc picty something which would
more approximate to the Old than to the New
T,~tamcnt-wIich had II closer spiritual re-
laiionship with tho teachings and examples
of Moses than with those of st. Paul Hence
the Puritan's pronounced liking for those
old biblical names.
Glance over tho record in prose and verse
of New England and you will find every
where on the pages where women arc men,
toned such names rs Miriam, Salome Ruth,
Bathslicba, Rcbckah, Sarah, Hagar, Adah,
Zillah, Eve, Rachel, Leah, Judith, lamar,
Deborah, Dinali, Billlah and even J<zebcl.
And noto the fact These names, many Of
them with II grand meaning, have too, a
sonorolls, full toned swing in them They are
rs if made to order to fit tho women who
woro them stately, rather severe in mien,
with no patience with their own faults and
no indulgence for those of others
The years went by and other views, other
manners began TO find their way ,mong the
descendants of these women. Then it was
we fell upon the evil days which gave us tho
Sarah James, tho Mary AIMS, the Martha
James and the Samanthas and other lingual
monstrositics Happily, the reign of these
names was not Il long one, although to this
day there arc many daughters of tho land
who have survived tho ''nominal' abomna-
tion thrust upon them soon after their BIRTH
NAMES OF THE NEW ERA.
Next Ill the course of events it became the
fashion t" give girls resonant names taken
from the golden scriptures of the ancicnts
All the shining records of ancient Greece and
Ronc even of swarthy Egypt, wcro ransuck-
cd i'll til" search, and tho hoary records wcre
made to give up their dead, so to speak, to
serve the living Tho dark and winding
paths of m"linvnl times were penetrated,
and the result Of Nil this WAS tlclugc of such
names as cornclia Claudia, Aurclil, Catulla,
Marcella, Tcrcntia, Ilacida, I.ucrctia, Sap
pho Sopllronisbc, Psyche, Phubc, Lcdu, AS
pasta, Cleopatra, Lcona, Zenobia, Isabella,
lnrH. No girl was considered ST. lish if the
name she was called by did not date back ut
last II Thousand years or more. 1t was q
time wien tho achievements and tho civili-
zation of ancient Rome and Greece formed
moro Of II iavorito study with tho American
youth than they do now and to the reflex of
this learning was doubtless duo tho fact of
This prolusion of ancient names.
,i,,. .
arose in this country The first traces of it
dawned i'll tho horizon about ten wears ago
This was simultaneous with the first faint in
drntion Of .inslomani;l in this country. Tho
craze fo, wearing ul,lers and driving capcs,
choking the neck in high, stiff collars and
concraling thought in an i,liom largely made
upof 'donchcrknows' and "dcahboys," cf-
f"ctel n cautious landing in New York and
Boston and thence Travelled slowly, very
slowly, westward. 1t reached here only a
isw years ago.
About the SAME time, too, the English and
their American cousins across tho wild waste
o, water bclhought them that there once
lived II race of mcn-tho parent stock of their
own rare-yclcpt tho Anglo-Saxon; and they
bcthought them that thcy-rulc, yellow
haired, beef gorging barbarians though they
wcre-had tho good taste to give their slcn-
der daughters, with the skin of snow, eyes of
azure and hair Of gold, very pretty, poetic
names. Why not dig out these forgotten
names again and stick them on tho girls of
the latter day pcriodl Why not9 And it
was done. And thus, Edith, my dear, it is
lla. you bear your own pretty name. Thus
it is that on that pretty japanese tray in tho
front hall Of your malnmns beautiful homo
you see 50 many cards with names beginning
i'll Elfrida, Ethel, Gladys, IIcrtha, Adel-
gunla, Waltrula, Edearda, Aclwitha, Mel
gunda, Elmunda, Ethclreda and Adelhyda.
1, 1,.Chicfrb Herald, -