The Stark County Democrat. [volume] (Canton, Ohio) 1833-1912, 1900-05-08
STRIKINGLY NOVEL
NAMES SELECTED.
A Custom Holding Good Though
Originated Centuries Ago.
STORY LOCALLY FLAVORED.
Peculiar Incidents which Have Occurred
In the Lives of Young children
Leading to Their Future
Titles.

Animosity sometimes prevails to an
alarming extent between parents when
they are called upon to choose names
for their young children. They recog-
nize that the child requires baptismal
name Just as much as it will require
clothes to wear or food to eat later on
in life The manner of originating these
sometimes fantastic appendages to the
family name oftentimes leads to humor-
Gus incidents. These cases are not ex-
tremely rare, but episodes OF this nature
run their course in daily life. The
| natural opportunity afforded by the
hero of Manila bay to fond parents has
resulted in patriotic parents calling
their children Dewey, in conformity
| with the ideas which prevailed in their
minds when they learned of the great
| hero There are hundreds of thousands
of Deweys in this country as well as
George Washingtons and Abraham
Lincolns, and just lately bit Of lovely
masculinity, born somewhere In the
west, was surnamed Hobson Dewey. In
past ages, and it still Is the custom in
some portions of Europe at the present
day, to surname children in accord
ance with the craft or general occupa-
| tion of the father or the generation
which may have preceded it's birth.
Such names as Longshanks and Long
fellows and Fenstermacher and Gross
wald are all names with strikingly
r rovel ascentuaton, but nevertheless
they designated some design or locality
or other incident in that family's life.
Locally applied there are instances
where such animosities were settled in
| a peculiar manner, but to the satisfac-
| tion of the parents as well as to the
qualification of the preacher concerned
| 1t is not always that the two baptismal
names are selected in the novel manner
| in which a local druggist DR.. p. H.
Barr was named. There was a small
assemblage of interesting citizens con-
vened at a recent meeting when they
| took up the question of peculiar Incl
| dents respecting the naming of
children.
zone of these incidents which
clearly remember" said one of the citi-
| zens, was related to me by the late
| Rev. Peter Herbruck. 1t happened long
ago, but will bear repeating. He told
| me once that he was called to a country
town residence many years ago to bap-
| tise a child. The parents were promi-
nent in the locality and when the Rev.
Herbruck arrived there he was prone
| to begin service at once in order to
make his way home before the day was
over. The baptismal bowl was upheld
and the preacher asked the parents
what name they had chosen for their
child.
There was peculiar expression on
their faces, and they did not immedi-
ately reply. The preacher waited till
he thought he was being delayed too
| long, and then suggested a name. The
parents could not agree upon a name
| quickly when the preacher suggested
his own name. that of Peter Herbruck
Barr. The parents acquiesced in the
name and thus it was that DR.. Barr,
well known and prominent in this city,
sings the initial p. H. to his name"
Another instance was related where
christian family named their three
children after the three godly graces,
Faith, Hope and Charity. Still another
citizen said he heard of parents who
named their children Worlds Fair, be-
cause the child was born during the
period of this country's exposition.
Other stories of a like nature were
mentioned.