Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-18
HOUSE NAMES
A FASHION THAT is GROWING IN
POPULARITY.
Scope for the Exercise of Wit in the
Selection of Suitable
Name.
From the New York Sun.

From the New York Sun.
Naming ones country home is a much
more important matter than one who has
never taken 1t up would be likely to sup
pose. It Is not customary here, as 1t Is in
England. to call every detached villa by
some sentimental title; but the fashion of
giving a name to ones home in the country
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 Sc
cret. There are few people who know that
Elberon Is called after the New York law
yer who bought the land and started the
new town. 1t is by such combinations that
den significance.
The deeper beauties of name like Will
berth are recognizable only when one knows
that William and Bertha are the names of
the man and wife who own it. Richmar,
the name of a home on the sound is of SIM
liar origin. OF course, Georgian Court Is
called for the senior Gould, who owns it,
Nearston.
Nobody would suspect the origin of Near
ston, really imposing pile that crowns
Westchester hill and commands view of
miles along the sound and over the pail
sades.
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 a sense of humor, gave his
home the appropriate name quoted.
This Is the type of name most popular
nowadays, although some suggestion of the
earlier history of the place appeals to many.
The result Is the large-number of estab-
lishments with Indian names that have re-
Gently come into existence, such as 'Agul-
hung" which is the name of place at Rye
and comes from an old Indian tribe who
formerly lived in that region.
The French names, such as Mon Desir,"
Mon Plaisir" "Bonne Terre," Belle Air."
once so fashionable, have all but disap-
peared So have the intensely sentimental
names usually derived from some floral
combination, such as "Petunia DELL" Lilly
Mead" "Blossomdale," "Clovernook"
Such names as THE Oaks" 1.-THE Will
lows" "Cedarcrest" and 1.-The Chestnuts"
of trees after which the estates are named
are usually the rarest In the region. That
fact has served to make householders very
suspicious of any house named in such a
out of fashion.
Mostly Hail. is the name Of a house
down at Shinnecock. The owner named IT
SO because, he said, the architect had left
him nothing but hall by the time he An
ished.
Gable, Tower, Chimney.
1.-THE Cables" White Towers" and THE
Chimneys'' are other names based on archi-
tectural features. The geological incidents
Of place also furnish good names, such as
.Stonecliff," ''Ridgetop'' and "Rockledge."
These peculiarities are not likely to disap-
pear,
A woman who called her country place
Fern Meadows" because half an acre of
ground was sparsely covered 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 stationery 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 examinations
along with something to suggest the family,
even If the name itself is not used. Croft.
"dene," mead, :" .holme." Cote" hurst"
'Ieigh"-these are some of the Examinations
combined with family names. Croft
means small field near a house or very
small farm. Mead" comes from the old
Anglo-Saxon word ''maed," which has its
modern equivalent In meadow. "Holme"
means either the low fiat land by a river or
an island, and is Anglo-Saxon. Leigh Is
the same as lea. which means an untitled
field.
"Hurst'a means grove, and "dene'' dell
or even dune. which happens to be some-
thing quite different. But their common
root Is the same. "Ffelds ID also g popu-
lar termination nowadays for q house naxne
that begins with the family's name
ssHonerhursts y tia nane Of = home Ia
Connecticut owned by the fanaily whose