Corvallis gazette. [volume] (Corvallis, Benton County, Or.) 1900-1909, 1901-04-26
NAMING THE BABIES.
GIVE THEM GOOD, PLAIN, HON.
EST ENGLISH COGNOMENS.
Fad for Diminutives and Fancy Names
Is Abating - Fewer Myrties, Rays
and Maymes - Select Applications
from Your Native Tongue.

A clergyman who baptizes a great
many babies asserts that the fancy
names for girls which have caused so
much disgust among sensible people are
going out Of date. There are fewer
Carries, Emmas, Elias, Mamies and Sa-
dies and more Carolines, Emelines,
Elizabeths, Marys and Sarahs. This is
are growing in sense. English names
should be given to English-speaking
people. Diminutives are proper enough
for babies, but where is the young lady
Margaret who would sign her name
Maggie, Madge, Maud or Peggie on
business document? How many people
OF middle age can remember a Gladys
in their early days? A lady who had
named her daughter Flora, afterward,
at the girls request, enlarged it to Flor
ence, because there were so many
Floras among dogs and horses. But re-
spect for the English language should
be the first impulse in naming child.
Among boys the selection of foreign
and Outlandish names is far less COM
mon. Now and then there is an Al
phonso or Alonzo, transported from one
OF the Latin countries, but the good old
English names, such as have been borne
by the kings in all the centuries, still
stand the test of long endurance. The
new King of England has added to the
respect in which he was held by choos-
ing the good old English Edward in
stead of the one which he received from
his Dutch father.
Among the HenryS, Georges, Will
Jams, Charleses, Jameses, Edwards and
a few others, are names enough to fit
out the largest family of boys. Then
there are a few Bible names that are
favorites. John, David, Peter, Stephen
and Andrew being the most popular
Greek names like Aristarchus, Demos
themes, Anaxagoras, Themistocles and
Sophocles are too lengthy for use in this
hurrying age. A family in Central New
York saw the name of Socrates in a
book, and named their son Socrates,
accent on the second syllable, and by
that pronunciation he was known
through long life, though his intimate
friends reduced it to Scrate. Probably
nine-tenths of the people in the rural
community in which he lived had no
more knowledge than his mother,
most excellent lady, who used to boast
to her neighbors of her "equinomical"
habits. and once complained that she
had a terrible Nashua in her stomach.
No mistakes will be made and nothing
furnished to cause a laugh if parents
will give their children good old English
or AngloSaXon names. There are some
very musical and sonorous names
among the Spanish, Italians, and old
Romans, but the child would not thank
his parents in after years if they COM
PEELED him to carry one of them through
life. A little boy yho was named CANA
liel and always CALLED "Gammy' by his
parents, shook off the incubus very
early by falsely telling his teachers that
he was John. His playmates and his
neighbors sympathized with him, and his
parents, regretting their mistake, let
the new name stand. We had the story
of Theophrastus and Theophilus Smith
few weeks ago, and of the comedy of
errors that followed their living in the
same row of fats because neither would
get beyond the initial L in signing his
Christian, or rather tllis heather, name.
Give the baby good old name select
ed from the language that you speak.
The naming of child is one of the
most important incidents of his life.
The man who, having been handicapped
by his own awkward name, afterward
bestows it on his own son for the sake
of keeping it in the family" is guilty
of an act that deserves to be branded as
a crime, the effect Of which is more
lasting than murder.-New Haven
Conn Palladium.