Willmar tribune. [volume] (Willmar, Minn.) 1895-1931, 1905-09-06
APART MEN Ta9 oUsE NAMES.
e = No Easy Job 10 Find Suitable
@s Observation-Disclosures
". Many. " .= ]=. Iss ss;

There used to be story to the
effect that George NJ, Pullman allowed
one Of mis- daughters 10000 year for
naming palace cars" said q New York
architect. Nearly every one who
heard the story supposed Miss Pull
man had a slnecIre, and that the sal.
AIRY was merely the vehicle chosen by
her father tc Convsy an annual pres.
ent to ner. Il But il she finds names for
the thousands OF cars that the Pull.
man company built she earned her
money. st 80 r. z.
T Before I had been called upon to
find name for new apartment hotel
/ had never dreamed what hard job
1t is. We q, r. s. Il u 4 ssSa
4 'Of course the car names arc not SO
important nor SO difficult to find, for
all the cars are numbered as we'll as
named, and the name is chiefly Orna-
mental. NO one is compelled to re.
member 1t, and travellers are not likely
to complain il they find themselves as
signed to cars the names of which are
mot euphonious. >..-~:#st'-~ Pr -
q "But when 1t comes to naming an
apartment house or hotel it is differ
Sent; The name ought to be 4 short.
musical, euphonious, easily spelled,
easily remembered, not commonplace.
not yet wholly unknown. For the same
reason that a man should never, name
child for anyone who Is still alive
hotel would be better not be named
for any popular hero of the hour.
You haven't any idea how hard it
is to find a name for a hotel, and it
Is still harder to find q name for a
high-class apartment house. Just try
to think of q name you would like to
sec carved in stone over the entrance
to family hotel you were to own
or manage. You might use your. own
name if it isn't Jones or Smith or if
you didn't bring it from Russia or
Hungary with you. But is your own
name we'll enough known to be easily
remembered? Would it add anything
to the attractiveness of the house to
stranger? Is it easily pronounced
and spelled? All these things and more
are required.
connected with any unfortunate event.
1t must not be historically offensive to
any race, nation or creed. 1t must not
have any hood0o associations.
these are among the reasons so
many houses are named after saints.
The religious prejudices of few people
are strong enough to make them re-
of another creed, and besides, few peo-
pie know enough of sanity biography
to be conversant with the deeds of
those who have been canonized. The
names of sainted women are more de-
sirable than those of sainted men, on
the general principle that women are
more interesting to more people than
men. ., ~ ~
II remember the first time was
called upon to find name for a big
apartment house in a fashionable part
of New York. My firm received the
contract and the owner added the stip-
ulation that We should find name. I
had no idea what a task, it would be,
so We didn't ask any additional COM
pensation. After a general plan of
the building had been outlined we all
set to work to find name. 49,. ...-.'~-
"Then: tried lot of Indian names,
but I found that all that were not al
ready attached to hotels were insult
able for some reason. 1 went into
mythology and struck the same snag.
Then tried the names of cities, coun-
ties, places, monarchs, statesmen, an
cient and modern, but they were all in
use or unavailable. Finally was
forced to try the saints, and with the
aid Of public library I found more
names than New York could use in
many year."