Washington standard. [volume] (Olympia, Wash. Territory) 1860-1921, 1910-12-09
CHANGED NAMES
ARE INCREASING
Courts Disagree as to Mans
Right to Alter COgnoInen.
HISTORY SHOWS .PRECEOENTS

Dante, Rembrandt, Erasmus and VOL
taire Among Famous Men Who Drop
ped Given and Family Applications.
Time Responsible For Such Changes
a. Shocks For Sevenoaks.
New York men in some number have
appeared In local courts recently ask
ing the law to change their names. Is
there some connection between this
and the alarming entertainments of
the suffragettes? Most probably 1t
was retaliation led these men to pilfer
the exclusively feminine privilege.
The male is not expected In midlife
suddenly to begin signing n new name
to his checks, putting another name on
his shingle or new initials to his
pajamas and seal rings.
The man who filches this alien pre-
rOgative must feel as II he were
marrying-wIthout discOmforts. What
with the court procedure, the legal
formalities and announcements, Paul
Kelly, one Of the men instanced, must
have felt as II he We're being divorced,
for Kelly had been Vaccarelli until he
was knighted Kelly as better betting
the pugnacity Of a budding pugilist.
Now he has regained his maiden
name," with an absolute decree of
separation.
One of the judges In these recent
cases ruled against n citizens common
they were hats. The other upheld that,
regardless Of courts, man may call
himself names II he likes. may chris
ten, baptize. libel or misspell himself
to his hearts content. The precedents
are strong In history that men have
renamed as women marry, some for
social station. others to inherit wealth
or for the love Of 1t, as Mark Twain.
or out Of compulsory and stern neces-
sity, as the alias gentry.
Time Changer Of Names.
Some names Will change, given time
enough, though all the kings men leg
islate to the contrary. There are fam
lily names that crumple up after years;
they just deliquesce. Such are the
English Marchbanks, crumbled from
the OOtund Marjoribanks. and old
ChOlmoxde'sy come Gown to Chum-
ley. Squire ScxOoakes that was to-
day IL Mr.. Shocks. an awful petering
out.
1t Is well that the legal restrictions
to remedying q cOgnOmen are few In
q country where there Is no regula-
ton Of christenings and where some
mighty heathenish Christian names
assassinate the happiness OF youth. II
was In this country the printer lived
who called his firstborn "Imprimis,"
his second 'Finis." but n third came,
to be indexed Appendix" and n
fourth "Addendum." There was moth.
ing left for the fifth but "Eratum."
Consider the nicknames, from Imp
to "Rat.~ The law should make It
easy for such victims to try again.
II you are born In France, French
law forbids your being designated by
any name other than one warranted
by previous use by hero or saint.
The limitation Is not serious. The sup
ply OF heroes may give out. but not of
saints. Travellers need only recall the
inhabited facades Of French cathe-
drals.
People Of the Latin countries feel
safest from the stroke Of disaster
when we'll lightning roddcd with
saints names. How does the For
tuguese prince speak Of himself? Al
phonso Henry Napoleon Maria Louis
Peter Of Alcantara Charles Humbert
Amadeus Ferdinand Anthony Michael
Raphael Gabriel Gonzago Xavier Fran
els OF Assist John Augustus Julius
volfondo Ignatius Of Braganza, Savoy.
Bourbon. saxe-Coburg and Gotha.
Changed Names Make History.
Bone Of the grandest historical
names are Inventions. or at least modi-
ncations. BY their owners. Moliere,
founder Of modern comedy, invented
that word. probably, and has survived
IN 1t. Durante Alighieri found himself
obliged to choose from the spellines Al
digeri. Alaghieri and Aligeri, so he was
signed himself Dante. A Dutch painter
won fame too great for 80 bourgeois a
name as "Herman's Son" to bear: he
changed 1t to Rembrandt van Ryn or
Rim. which is aristocratic and mouth
filling and warrant in his having been
born beside one Of the hundred mouths
Of the Rhine.
Geert de Praet had q son called sim
ply "Geert's Cert" The boy became
the greatest scholar of the middle ages,
dignihed himself as "Desiderius Eras-
mus" meaning the "Doubly Desired"
apparently a ding Of defiance at those
who would sneer at his bar sinister.
"Arouet" Is not a bad name; 1t has a
subtle suggestion of acerbity, which
should have gratified the great French
catirist who bore 1t. but he anagram-
med 1t inaccurately into "voltaire."
which has blotted out his born patro-
nymic.
Genius worked out these names for
itself; their greater fitness to connote
their owners is proved by posterity's
preferring them to the legal originals.
Likewise 1t is hard to see why any
Ddngwaller or Pfzger should not, II he
desires. discard hts label altogether. be
forefather Of family and literally
make q name for himself.
West Points Call For Cadets.