The Olneyville times. (Olneyville [Providence, R.I.]) 1887-1917, 1909-03-19

II influence on their careers Is unde-
oiable, but nowadays we rate this in
nuence much below some former es-
Inmates OF it and indeed take less
serious view Of personal names alto
gether than has been common IN the
past. Pythagoras went TO p,ystical
lengths in ascribing the individuals
bent and success to his name; so did
Plato. "BOnum nomen, bonum
omen." was proverb at Rome.
"What could yoU~cXpect of man
.alled Lyco (wolf) ?" asked Plautus;
and Romans who had Faustus or
Probus in their designations were
publicly preferred at sacrifices. How
scrupulOus were the ancient Hebrews
70 put a moral sense into their appel
lations, for instance, Ichabod, Miri-
am, Saul Even so the Saxons cher
shed high expectations Of names in
cluding "ead" or 'prosperity"-Ed-
ward, Edmund, etc. The medieval
church sought heavenly guardianship
for the child through naming it for
the saint whose day fell nearest to
Its birth. Later a freezer choice was
allowed, but the English priests up
to the Reformation would admit
none 10 the font unless il was bap-
tized with the name of a Scripture
or legendary saint" This rule held
In France till the Revolution, and
when that upheaval set the public
free to adopt wild, capricious names
the secular government stopped them
with the law of III Germinal, An
XII" whereby none but the names
persons famous in ancient history"
might be accepted for registration
a law invoked in Paris as recently as
last year to prevent some fantastic
denomination.
In England after the Reformation
the use Of new-fangled, secular names
became common, and so sane an OBJ
server as Lord Coke was pleased to
say that he had noted many Of them
prove unfortunate. Thomas Fuller
remarked upon the great lawyers
dictum that "the good success in
other cases confuted the general
truth Of his observation, but he did
not question it altogether.
The early established custom of
changing names after some spiritual
or other crisis reveals a like opinion;
SO Abram became Abraham; Jacob,
Israel; Saul, Paul; Romulus (upon
Quirinus. So, too. fam
Gus scholars have sought to be reborn,
as it were, into their beloved classi-
cism by translating their names into
Greek or Latin-Trapassi transform
ing himselfi into Metastasio: Schwartz
erd into Melancthon; Gaucher into
Scaevola; De la Borgne into Strabo
The venerable Camden reports that
already in his day many entirely
change their names TO get rid OF
ridiculous in them, lest
they be vllifed thereby" and we are
reminded of the more recent Thomas
Bugg, who translate himself into
Norfolk Howard.
Novelists and dramatists have al
ways been fervent disciples of the
lOilllhdilSl Nutbl y otthlhS lIlpl'o-
sive titles for their puppets from
conviction that this element will
largely influence their readers con-
ceptions. Balzac ascribed as mystic
and magic a potency to mere names
as ever Pythagoras, Plato or Sterne's
Mr.. Shandy did 1t will be remem-
bered of the last that when through
Susannah's leaky TemoTy his child
was christened "Tristram" instead Of
"Trismegistus" his grief and alarm
for its future surpassed expression.
Even in regard to brute animals
the same instructive theory asserts
itself 1t is a classical tradition Of
the Derby that an i'll named horse
cannot win it, and Anthony Trollope
was sharply rebuked by racing men
because in one of his novels he
awarded the blue ribbon to Fish
knife -