Freeland tribune. (Freeland, Pa.) 1888-1921, 1890-06-12
NAMES OF WOMEN.
They Change with other Fashions
and Quite Often, Too.

and Quite Often, Too.
1t would not be at all surprising it, in
the centuries to come, the students of.
the social life of the nineteenth century
should classify this great comic century
into shorter periods according to the
fashions of given names among women.
Fashions in mems names change some
what, but not as women's. John,
Charles, George and William reign in
1890 as they did in 1890. But the fash
ion in women's names changes every ten
or fifteen years. Just what was the ia
voritc woman's name at the very open
ing of the century is hard to guess off
hand, but the listener may venture to
say that the Nancy epoch was the first
worthy of the word in the century.
Among the octogenarian ladies of the
Listeners acquaintance the name OF
Nancy seems to have very prominent
place. Further on down the century
came the fashion of double namcs-pos-
sibly an old fashion revived-and we
find Martha AIMS, Mary James and Ann
ELIAS in nearly every family. Perhaps
this epoch would be best described as
the Mary Jane epoch of our feminine
nomenclature.
1t is little hard to locate these things
in years, but the Listener would say, at
a guess, that the Lucy epoch began
about the year 1895, and was closely
followed by the Helen epoch, which left
the name of the beautiful daughter of
Leda scattered broadcast over the coun-
try Somewhat after the reign of Helen
came the most singular, unaccountable
epoch of all, the Ella epoch. The use Of
the name of Ella goes back, as closely
as the Listener can locate it, to about
the year 1850, though there may have
been earlier examples. Where the name
ella" came from is mystery. The
authorities put it down as corruption
of Eleanor, which in its turn was cor
rupted from Helen. 1t appears to have
no recognized place either in history or
fiction, though evidently it was borrowed
from fourth-rate popular novel. 1t is,
at any rate, without meaning, without
associations in the past, without any
other reason for existence at its begin
ming except that it pleased many peo-
pies fancy. Now it no doubt has q
recognized existence, since beautiful
and good women have borne it, and,
like all other names that women ever
bore, it is sanctified with that other
name of mother. The real Ella epoch
did not set in as early as 1850; probably
it was at its height about the year 1860.
People thought it so prettyl But it is
sadly out of fashion now.
There was an Ida epoch that came in
somewhere along there probably just
after the Ella epoch, though the two
names ran pretty closely together The
name of Ida is good and ancient one,
though most of the people who took it
up doubtless thought they had hit upon
something quite new. Most of the Idas
of the time about 1860 were named for
a character in popular story, or for
one another. But following the Ella and
Ida period there came another girl name
which attained a most extraordinary
rage; the Edith epoch, indeed, survives
almost to the present day. Between
1865 and 1875 about half of the girl
babies were christened Edith, and the
crop is ripening fast now, as a matter of
course. Look at the high school cata-
logues and see how they bristle with
Ediths. An ancient Saxon name, and a
pretty one, dlsused for centuries and re-
vived all at once-a happy revival of it
had it not been overdone. Then came
the Maud -and-Mabel epoch; these names
have to be hyphenated, because neither
ever seemed able to stand up without the
other. They were great rage in their turn.
The main crop of Mauds and Mabels will
hardly mature before another five years,
though the earlier sowings are ripe al
ready Since then we have had the
Marjorie revival-an exceedingly pretty
name that, and now we are threatened
with a Gladys epoch. Here we have an
other name out of the story books. But
fashions in names had much better be re-
viyals of old, disused English names, like
Gladys, Ethel, Edith, Barbara, than mere
inventions and importations. And a
great deal more depends upon the
woman, anyway, than on the name
Boston Transcript.