The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-05-11
By FRANCES MARSHALL,

| Since beauty. especially in women. ha s
| already been admired. and it Is strange
| always been admired, II is strange that
so few of the names signifyng beau
ty have come down to the present time
in popularity. Calista. Tryphaena. Try
| phosa. 1solda. Leila-none of these names
is usual today. Ruth and Kenneth are
the only two really popular names of
| beauty, and neither of these is usual out
side of America and the British Isles.
| Tryphaena and Tryphosa are two
| Greek names from word meaning
| daintiness. They owe what popula rity
! they have had neither to their meaning
nor their early history. for in ancient
| times they were not generally used
among people of the better class. But
! two women of these names were workers
| among the early Christians, and because
| st. Paul in his epistle to the Romans
sends greetings to thes. women, the
| Turitans adopted their names regardless
| of the fact that their meaning did no,
| represent a Puritanic ideal.
Greece. noted for her delight in the
beautiful had several names signifying
beauty. among them Calista name once
in a while met with even today.
Leila. or Leila, is an Arabic name which
signifies darkness or night. but which
stands for the type of Oriental beauty.
where beauty suggests dusky skin and
black hair and eyes.
Isolde. or Isolda. is Kettle name oil
beauty. 1t means fair. and first. in the
form of Adsalutta was the name of a
Kettle goddess. Because of the popular
ity of the story of tine unhappy Tristrem
and Isolda the name was very popular
in the Middle Ages, and was translated
into many languages. Yseulte and
Isoude were the French forms. Isolta
the Italian form and Isolde. Izolta and
Isolda the English forms.
The story which made the name popu-
lar in medieval times tells of Tristrem.
the Cornish knight. who goes to Ireland
to bring home Isoit. the fair, his uncle's
promised bride. On the voyage home n
great storm arises and Ysolts maid. to
refresh the knight and the lady, gives
them to drink of ma gic potion which
Isolt's mother babe the maid to give
Ysolt and her husband on their maria ge
day. The potion makes those who drink
it love one another: so the consequences
in the story are disastrous. for Ysolt.
the fair. Immediately falls in love with
the knight, TriStrem. instead of his
uncle, and Tristrem forgets his wife
also named Ysolt and called Ysolt of the
white hands-and falls passionately in
love with Ysolt the fair
Beauty was never considered so dcsir-
able in man as i'm woman. so there are
even fewer masculine names of beauty
than feminine. One still popular how
ever. is the Kettle name Kenneth. In
very early times this name was Caoin-
mach. The Irish had several forms
Cinead. Kinat. Connadh, Conchad, and
Coinadh-and finally came the Scottish |
Kenneth.
Caoinnach I. king of Scots. killed in
the year 62l after a short reign of three |
months surnamed Gear. which means |
perhaps the black. perhaps the left |
handed. left little information concern |
ing himself to later times.
Kenneth I. surnamed MacAlpine. who |
died over 200 years later-about the year /
Sso-is somewhat better known. He be-
came king of the Scots when his father
died. in the year S34.
Kenneth MacAlpine rapidly became a
powerful king In the world of his time,
and he made Scotland a nation to be
with. Before his day Scotland
had been constantly upset by conflicts
between the Picts and Scots and the
British Cumbrians. Kenneth MacAlpine
established his kingdom at the Pictish
der his leadership, and married his
daughter to the king of Cumbria, thus
gaining peace and friendship. with these
people With Scotland united, Kenneth
went against the Danes and Norsemen.
who were harrassing the northern parts
of the country. ana succeeded In check
ng their progress.
The most popular of all the names
Indicating beauty is the Hebrew name
Ruth. The meaning of the name is
in some doubt Sometimes II is said
hat the name means trembling, but IL
Is generally supposed that II means
beauty, or a vision Of beauty or bright
ness. In view of the beauty both of
sound and meaning. and the loneliness
II the Biblical character of Ruth. II is
strange that this name has not been
more popular in the many centuries
hat have passed since 1t was first
,sed.
The story Of Ruth. the Moabitsss. |,