The Penn's Grove record., 1909-08-27
TITLES IN FRANCE.


titles over any other country in the
world. There was a time when the
Government amiably gave permission
to its subjects to change their names
to any that seemed more euphonious
or more impressive. Now that such
means of legally acquiring a title are
no longer possible-the authorities
are said to have grown weary of the
absurdities c~ountenanced by this
recognition of the changes-it is still
no more difficult for the ingenious
subject to ennoble himself by acquir-
Ing gradually just about the sort of
name he wants. An example of the
aid that the idiom Of the language
lends to any such ambitions may be
found in a typical case. If Jean
Durand-both the commonest kind
OF French names-liesires to add
some distinction to his patronymic he
need only write it "Jean du Rand"
Inc there is at once the suggestion
of feudal nobility In the change.
Since he Is at liberty to add the name
OF his birthplace or any ruined castle
in its vicinity to his name, he can
readily sign himself Jean du Rand
de V~illiers," for example. 1t will not
take more than a year or two for him
to have reduced this title on his Wis
iting card to 'Jean Gle Rand or to
drop altogether the family name, and
Identifying himself solely by the
place of HIS birth go through life as
IN. Jean de Villiers." There are
nine chances out of ten that a crown
will DON be found swimming above
the name on the carte de visite.
There Is a sturdier sound perhaps
in the designation of nobility adopted
lately by some of the Frenchmen in
public life who call themselves d.
rectly from the names of their ma
tive towns. This method is especial
ly popular with members and depu-
ties who, spurning the prefix "de,"
which has come to be regarded with
suspicion in wen the least sophisti-
Gated circles, write themselves simply
"Bansard des Bois," "Gauthier de
Clagny," or "Guyot de Villeneuve,"
with no other authority than the fact
that they came from those places.
How impatient is the English lam
guage of any such exploitation may
be understood from the lack of i'm
pressiveness that the addition of his
native town would add to the name
Of an American legislator.
Ono 1f ho1o~-
feast in name, in France, is somewhat
more familiar to New Workers. It
Is this method that has created the
hyphen ~aristocracy OF France. We
have known the overworked hyphen
to distinguish in the mind of its JOS
SCISSORS some American family names.
although they may not have elevated
them to what might correspond to an
American nobility. Hitehing by
means of the hyphen the name of a
distinguished ancestor to ones own
family name brought into existence
such uncommon products as Casimir-
Perier, Aristide-Briant, and in artis-
tic professions, Abel-Truchet ,Ferdi-
nand-Raffin and entertainments.
Even the painters and writer's. in
France are seized with the passion
FOR ennobling their patronymics as
far as possible. Elise why should
the daughter of a former French
President who married an author
named Goyau sign her writings Lucie
Felix-Faure-Goyau? Is Paris on the
verge of accepting the Fictitious
grandeur of the rasta who by means
Of the connecting "y" joins the names
Of as many of his immediate ances-
tors as it is possible to stretch across
his card?
How the French Government has
aided its subjects to raise themselves
above the state of life to which they
had been born is shown in a recent
booklet on the subject of the newer
aristocracy published in Paris
Among the many applicants to bear
names of noble sound made to the
authorities before they grew weary
of the absurdity of the process. the
majority came from officers in the
army. They knew the advantage that
the possession of a name with a
specious suggestion of noble birth
can confer. To the rich merchant OF
broker who felt that q noble name
was all that he needed to throw a ross
colored glow yer his money bags the
title represented the final achieve.
ment in his triumphal life. To the
lieutenant or the captain, however, il
was a means to an end. So a number
of the officers in the French arm,
have manufactured picturesque title.
for themselves and successfully ap
pealed to their country to have then
iegalized. In diplomacy somethins
of the same effort to tighten the diff
iculties Of the young secretary and
attache has been made. Now tina
the authorities have asked to be ex
cused from any further participation
In the joke it goes on just as wei
without Governmental sanction. 81
fertile are Frenchmen in discovering
their titles to nominal nobility ant
SO sympathetic to their ambitions i.
their mother tongue that the French
nobility is not likely to be s~eriousl,
depleted.-New York Sun.