The midland journal. (Rising Sun, Md.) 1885-1947, 1905-12-29
NAMES FOR COUNTRY HOUSES
A FASHION THAT is GROWING IN
POPULARITY.

SoUPc Tor the Exercise OF Wit IN tHe
Selection of a Suitable Name-Hid-
den Meanings Of Titles-sentiment-
al Element Has Disappeared-old
English findings.
Naming ones country home is a
much more important matter than
one who has never taken it up would
be likely to suppose. 1t is not GUS
tomary here, as it is in England, 20
call every detached villa by some SEN
timental title; but the fashion OF CIV
ing name to ones home ia the coun-
try or in. some suburban town near
New York grows more popular every
day.
The houses name may be pregnant
with hidden meaning to those who
have the secret There are few pea-
pie who know that Elberon is called
after the New York lawyer wfo
bought the land and started the new
town. 1t is by such combinations that
the house name may be made to hold
hidden significance.
The deeper beauties of name Lac
Wilberth are recognizable only when
one knows that William and Bertha
are the names of the man and wife
who own it. Richn.ar, the name of a
home on the Sound, is of similar
origin. OF course Georgian Court is
called for the senior Gould, who owns
It.
Nobody would suspect the origin OF
Nearston, really imposing pile That
crowns a Westchestsr hill and COM
mands view of miles along the
Sound and over the Palisades.
The house is built of blocks OF
concrete, which are almost an exact
imitation of stone. 1t seems so near
stone that the owner, who has sense
of humor, gave his home the appro-
pirate name quoted.
This is the type of name most popu-
lar nowadays, although some sugges-
ton of the earlier history of the place
appeals to many. The result is the
large number of establishments with
Indian names that have recently
come into existence, such as "Agul-
hung" which is the name of place
at Rye and comes from an old In
dian tribe who formerly lived in that
region.
The French names, such as Mon
Desir," Mon Plasir," "Bonne Terre,"
Belle Air." once so fashionable, have
all but disappeared. So have the in
tensely sentimental names usually de-
rived from some floral combination
such as "Petunia DELI Lily Mead"
"Blossomdale," "Clovernook."
Such names as THE Oaks "The
Willows" "Cedarcrest," and THE
Chestnuts" got black eye from tho
fact that the kind of trees after which
the estates are named are usually
rarest in the region. That fact has
served to make householders very sus-
picious of any house named in such
way and the genus has consequently
gone out of fashion.
MOSTLY HALF is the name OF a
house down at Shinnecocks. TIE
owner named it so because, he said,
the architect had left him nothing
but hall by the time he finished.
1.-THE Cables" white Towers" and
"The Chimneys" are other names
based on architectural features. The
geological incidents of a place also
furnish good names, such as Stone
cliff" 'Ridgetop" and "Rockledge."
These peculiarities are not likely to
disappear.
A woman who called her country
place Fern Meadows" because half
an acre of ground was sparsely COW
cred with sharp and rather rusty
looking ferns, was never able to make
the ferns grow after she had been
in the place year. But her die had
been made, her stationary printed
and there was nothing to do but cling
to the name.
Nothing is more the style just now
than the use of the old English ter
limitations along with something to
suggest the family, even if the name
itself is not used. Croft" "dene,"
mead" "holme," cote hurst"
.leigh"-these are some of the ter
limitations combined with family
names. Croft" means small field
near a house of very small farm.
Mead" comes from the old Anglo
Saxon word "maed." which has it's
modern equivalent in meadow.
"Holme" means either the low fisr
land by river or an island and is
Anglo-Saxon. Leigh" is the same as
lea. which means an untitled field
Hurst means grove and "dene"
a dell or even dune, which happens
to be something quite different. But
their common root is the same.
Fields" is also a popular termina-
ton nowadays for a house name thai
begins with the family's name.
"Honerhurst" is the name of a
home in Connecticut owned by the
family whose croft "Shereote'-