The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1915-02-17
YOUR FIRST NAME
Its Origin, and the Famous Folk Who Have Borne 1t
. xour name Charles. kari. Charlotte,

you ever stop to think that 1t Is a name
that carries with it q good deal of re-
sponsibility, and that you have a pretty
| high standard to live up to? For 1t Is
the expression of manliness and it means
| simply man"
Its first form. carl. earle or karl,
is found among the old Germanic tribes
even before they had settled down into
well-defned nations or pitted their
strength against that Of Rome. and when
as Goths. Ostragoths. Burgundians and
| Franks they were wandering about the
plains Of Europe. fighting with one an
other and with their common enemies.
At about the same time the word came
| into use among the Angles and the
| Saxons, and they later brought it with
them to England as ceorl. used to desig-
nate a free husbandman.
The Franks in time. made name
from this word earle. or man. and the
| name was Charles. The first time that
| a Charles had a chance to show the en-
| tire world. that he really deserved his
| name was in 732. when the great Frank
! ish chief led his people to victory over
| the Mohammedans on the field Of Tours.
You remember how the Mohammedans
had been spreading gradually westward
| until they thought all they had to do to
| get possession Of Europe was simply to
cross the Pyrenees of Southern France,
| and how they met the fierce northern
| warriors under the leadership of a chief
who. because of his heroic work with his
great battle axe, received the surname
Of Hammer or ''Martel." and realized
that they had met their masters. Europe
was In truth saved to Christendom by a
man.
But great as was the manliness of
| this first historic Charles. the great
est Charles in his history was his
grandson Charlemagne-the Great
Charles' who brought order out of
the chaos which existed among the
peoples of Europe and who was
crowned Emperor of the West in 500
A. D. There Is a story about the
way Charlemagne came to have his
| name. probably mythical. but never
theless showing the significance of
the name in those days
1t Is said that Charles Martel's lit
tie grandson was named David Like
all well-to-do children of the time.
| he was sent to live at the home OF
his nurse during boyhood. When the
| nurse took him home he had grown to
be a sturdy youngster. and his
mother. when she saw him, exclaimed
III his Is no lOHScE
my little baby: this is a full-grown
earle" So the child was named
| Charles, and later. when he showed
that he merited the title. was called
Charlemagne, the Great Man"
1t is rather strange that a name so
usual should not be found in a list
! of those manly men who have been
! Presidents of the United States. Not
so in list of the kings of the world.
L - 60 80 -
after Charlema gne-Emperor Charles
V. and the unfortunate Charles /. of
England-showed that they were en-
titled to the name. For whatever
the enemies of Charles I may say.
most of them admit that he bore his
doom bravely and went 10 the block
as a man should go. And who could
be more of a man than the Erea-
Emperor Carolus Ouiatus Of re- Holy
Roman Empire. who was z-so E--c
Carlos I. of Spain and King Kari
of Germany-a man" IN three Ian
guages-patron of arts and letters.
great warrior. and the king under
whom Spain reached the height Of re-
power as the conqueror of Mexico and
Peru?
Besides these three great kings. there
were others Of the name. Nine Of them
followed Charlemagne in France: the last
the throne to give place to Louis Phil
ippe. And there were several other En-
perors of the name of the Holy Roman
Empire, which lasted from the time Of
Charlemagne to 1905. Charles /. had a
son Of the name who ruled in England
after the monarchy was restored. There
were seven rulers Of the name in Spain
and Navarro. fifteen in Sweden. seven
In Germany. and many in the smaller
principalities and Kingdoms. The King
Of Portugal who was killed few years
ago was named Carlos-the Spanish and
Portuguese form OF the name. In French
the name is the same as in English. In
Italian ISIS Carlo, in Spanish and Port
uguese Carlos, in German Karl. in Pol
ish Karol, and in Hungarian Karoly.
II you're named Charles and have
literary aspirations. you've an example
of success either in Dickens. in Lewis
Carroll. the creator Of Alice in Wonder
land whose real name was Charles
Dodgson. or in the essayist Lamb. RI
you've a scientific turn Of mind. there's
Darwin-the Father of Modern Sci
ence"-born 100 years ago. II you've
ability as a soldier. there's Charles
George. better known as Chinese" Cor
don. who gained his title by success
fully commanding the great Ever Vic
toriuos Army Of Celestials against
their rebellious brethren in 1854 If you
can paint. there's the seventeenth century
Florentine. Carlo Dolce. If you like to
dabble In politics, there's Fox, the Eng
lish statesman, friend of the Colonists
at the time Of the revolution.
While the name Charles. as has been
said. is one Of the earliest originating
in Europe. strangely enough none of
the feminine forms appeared until
hundreds Of years later. In the early
part Of the fifteenth century. We hear
Of Charlotte. or Carlotta. of Savoy,
wife Of Louis XI. of France. AL
though We don't know much about
this Queen. we do know that her sub
tects Immediately began to use her
name. and from France il spread to
the rest of Europe. The form Car
oline appeared at about the same time.
These two names. or rather the two
forms Of the same name, came to-
gether into England as middle names
of the Queen Of George IL George
III, King at the time of the Amer
lean revolution, married Charlotte of
Mecklenburg. and every one loved this
home abiding, domestic Queen. The
unhappy wife Of George " was Caro-
line. and all her subjects sympathized
with her because of the unjust way
in which the King treated her. Their
only daughter was the much loved
Princes Charlotte, first wife of the
father of Leopold IL. present King of
the Belgians There is still a queen
ly Charlotte-daushter Of Leopold I of
Belgium and his second wife. and
therefore a sister of Leopold H. She
al Ia lv,tI nf