The Abbeville press and banner. [volume] (Abbeville, S.C.) 1869-1924, 1907-08-07

LII q 1lIllC OOL1poAy VI youh6 "SA
q few nights ago the question Of
middle names came up, and inquiry
showed that five out of six Of those
present had middle names. One said
be once dropped his, but took it up
again at the request of his father.
Another said he never told anybody
what his middle name was, and three
admitted that they regarded theirs
as a nuisance. Then they wondered
when middle James originated and
what good they were anyhow.
Every person must have remarked
the current fad of writing out the
middle name in full. This fashion
sprang up only a few years ago, and
has been much affected by some peo-
pie. Until it became the vogue, a
person with a middle name would
have been laughed at for writing it
out in full, but fashion justifies
everything. Some people, DESTROYS
% be differentiated from the common
nerd even divide their names in the
middle-as G.. Washington Sykes,
W. Shakespeare Boggs'or T. Jefferson
Jones. This shows that the owner
knows how to wear a. middle name
without being tripped up by it, as a
militia officer sometimes is by his
sword.
Middle Names More Common Now.
But the question ecu when did
middle names become SO popular and
what good are they? There is reason
to believe they are far more common
now than they were a few generations
ago. In a list published in The News
4 few days ago of pensioners Of the
Revolutionary War who died in In
| LLAMA, out of SO, there were only
twelve with a middle name or initial.
Any one company that served in the
War of the Rebellion would show
more double names than this, and
any page in the city directory would
show two or three times as many.
Benjamin Harrison had no middle
name, but the company which, he
raised and commanded as captain be-
fore he became colonel contained
dfty-fye officers and privates witt
middle names-nearly five times as
many as there were among the S1C
Revolutionary pensioners who once
lived in Indiana.
History seems to show that middle
names were not common during the
Revolutionary period nor for some
time after. Few of the prominent
soldiers or statesmen of that period
had double names. Of generals there
we're George Washington, Anthem!
Wayne, Henry Knox, Arthur st
Clair, Francis Marion, John Sullivan
Nathaniel Greene, Artemus Ward, Is
rael Putnam, Rufus Putnam-eacf
having but one name. The same wa:
true Of nearly all the commissioned
officers in the Revolutionary army.
Presidents without Middle Names.
OF the thirteen presidents of the
Continental Congress, between lite
and 1888, not one had a middle
name.
Of the fifty-ive signers Of the Dec
laration of independence only three
had middle names. The bold sigma
ture of John Hancock would not be
as effective if he had had a middle
initial, and that of Benjamin Frank
lin appears more dignifed without
one.
Among the $50 delegates to the
Continental Congress, from 1774 tt
1888, only twenty-five had middle
names.
In the first Congress under the con
stitution, held in 1889, out of fifty
nine Representatives only five hao
middle ame One Of these, a mem
Der from South Carolina, bore the
singular name of John Baptist Ashe
Another, elected first Speaker of the
House, was Frederick Augustus Con
rad Muhlenberg, of Pennsylvania. A
third was John Peter Gabriel Muh'
lenberg, also from Pennsylvania
Both of these men, by the way, were
preachers, both quit the pulpit tt
enter the Revolutionary army, anc
both achieved distinction as soldier.
and statesmen. Their father, also
clergyman, was of German birth, and
they got their middle names from
the prevailing custom in Germany.
Few Among Early Statesmen.
Of our eight Presidents from l7Ss
to 1910, only one had a middle name
and of the ffty-three persons who
! served as Cabinet officers under the
five administrations of Washington