Greene County herald. (Leakesville, Miss.) 1898-current, 1899-08-03
ODD NAMES IN THE ARMY
THE MUSTER ROLLS PROVIDE A
REVELATION IN NOMENCLATURE.

Some Are Genuine. But More the Product
of the wouid-Be Soldiers Inventive
ness-Old Aliases Being Gradually OBJ
acknowledgement Has Hard Job.
"Uncle Sam has to be mighty par
ticular when he picks out his First
Bergeants," said battle-scared old
fellow who wore the yellow chevrons
Of First Sergeant of cavalry.
"Tisn't every man in company
can twist his tongue about the names
that come up in roll-call, and all
things equal the chap with the handy
tongue gets the diamond above his
three stripes.
If any one doubts the necessity for
ease and hexibility of speech just let
him get muster roll Of one of the
regular regiments in the service and
read the names of the enlisted men
hurriedly. A kno Wedge of English,
Irish, Polish, Russian, German,
Swedish, Italian, Norwegian, French
and half dozen other languages
would be OF great value, for all these
and many more nationalities are rep
resented and so mixed up in the ar
rangement Of the rolls that man
needs ready adaptability of speech
to make the quick changes from Ger
man gutturals to fluent French or
from Norwegian aspirants to Welsh
eonsonants.
Uncle Sam cares not rap for the
name his soldier bears; the man be-
hind the cognomen is what the Gov
eminent looks at. The doctors who
examine him find out all about an APP
plicant so far as physical conditions
govern his life and habits, but even
the shrewdest officer on recruiting
duty is not able to tell whether man
gives his real name or has made one
up on the spur of the moment. Here
are o few taken from the rolls of an
infantry regiment which show a fairly
wide range Of speech:
Genireaux, wellschwrack, Upaike,
York, Brylski, Smink,
Noragong, Jrs, Penafeather,
Munskofsky, Pichkowsky, Schlehr,
Nuno, Huic, Albanian,
Vivcores, Sikora, Bohonan,
Wilkaitis, Szekely.
In the cavalry branch of the army
there are notable four who rejoice in
these names.
Shoemaker, Shoecraft, Shoesmlth,
Shine.
Looking over the hospital roster
one is struck by some queer freaks in
nomenclature. This part of the army
is comparatively small, yet in the
corps are found such apt names as:
Health, Livengood, Strong.
Payne, Hllslnger, Halliwell
Pummel Leech, Uppencamp,
JOY.
1t would be mighty sick man that
couldn't make pun with those names,
and, when well enough to hobble
around the cooks tents, have some
fun with Baker, Phair, Omelette,
Tee, Beer, Rice, Wood, Ash or Chip
Niccum, all of whom are mustered as
company cooks, and are showing the
natives in the West Indies or the Phil
ippines how Yankee soldiers are fed.
In the artillery branch, which, by
reason of being stationed on the coasts,
is largely recruited from the foreign
element, odd sounding names are
frequent. The following are samples:
Omensetter, Swantak, Yourt
Gackiewicz, Henwetter, Hightower,
Sherfesse, Prochasita, TWellyan.
Bolderjack, zwoboda, Znanzig.
There is of course no way of know
ing what mans name may be except
the one he chooses to be known by and
gives at the time he enlists. By that
name he is called unless, as sometimes
happens, soldier becomes tired of
using an assumed name and applies to
the authorities at Washington and has
his own name substituted on the rec
ords. But it is easy to guess that
many names are hastily assumed in
the presence of the recruiting officer.
For instance, it is not hard to under
stand the emotions that actuated the
men. who gave these names on enter
ing the army:
Job, Snap, Done.
Love, Pluck, Trump.
Hope, Beginner, Lost,
A few years ago the army was full of
Sullivans, then come crowd of men
who gave their names as Corbett when
making application. Every prize fight
of any Importance results in a large
percentage of the men who present
themselves for examination giving the
name of one or the other of the prin-
cipals. Fortunately these candidates
are of class that lead lives which
thoroughly unfit them for soldering
and they are rejected. Just now the
favorite names of this class are Sharkey
and Sloan.
Such names are common in the in
fantry as Foot, Walker, Leggitt; in
the cavalry as Rider, Saddler, Sword;
in the artillery and ordinance as Ball,
Gum and Cannon. Perhaps the names
were taken by recruits in a spirit of
jest or with desire to conceal their
identity, for it is fact that many of