New-York tribune., 1918-01-02
This Question of Names

Now that Mr.. George Moore has pre-
vailed IN the suit brought against him by
q music hall artist of London, named
LOUIS Seymour, there is much to-do in
british periodicals over the question of
novelsts and British names Nobody
blames anybody for objectng to an asso
clation with the latest product of Mr..
Moore's elderly pen---an elderly pen can
be disgusting under circumstances III
winch youthful pen is simply diverting.
Mr.. Moores rewritten novel deserves very
little consideration from any one
But the victory for the novelist is hailed
as victory for all writer's and as q verv
sound rcbuke for those anxious money
grabbers who have seized upon every acci
dental resemblance of name to commence
an action for damages In this country
the general disfavor in which libel suits
are he'd has saved our novelists from an
noyance. In England there have been p
number Of suits and a number of heavy
recoveries.
One point raised by critics is the i'm
possibility Of inventing any conceivable
name which will not turn out to be a very
common surname on some particular
parish register of Great Britain. Arabel
Pickles or Marmaduke Honeyblossom
Whoopingnoso are equally unsafe, observes
that entertaining critic of "The New States
man who writes over the name Of Solo
mon Eagle. 1s there a real Solomon Eagle
somewhere in England, we wonder, to
protest against this liberty with his titleN
"Gotobed'' is cited as the name of draper
IN small cathedral city, by way of illus
tratlon OF just how far an Englshman will
go IN keeping a name handed down to him.
Are American surnames less eccentrico
10 they tend more to conform to style and
the common run? SO it seems to the
American who visits England-despite the
busy activities of those contributors to col
umns who spend all their lives in reporting
that j. Ink sells stationery at Pough-
keepSle. Yet the mere strangeness of new
names probably accounts for much of this
shock IN foreign land. We have met Eng
i'shmen who were equally amazed over
here. Perhaps there is u greater tixity
OF surnames in England on the whole. A
particular town or parish seems to kee,, its
particular style and spelling more per-
sistently than here. Our ascents and de-
scents from class to class and our shifts
east and west and from city to country
probably wear off some of the eccentricities
of spelling, at any rate.
There is point that seems to Indicate a
reverse tendency, and that is the affection
which Americans have for eccentric given
names. Almost anything will do as handle.
A child named War was reported the other
day. There are all too likely some little
Tariffs trotting around in good Repun.
llcan districts. Almost any popular hero
from President to prizetighter has his
crop of namesakes. Heroes and heroines of
fiction have their echoes. In England there
is pretty stiff adherence to the good old
fashioned standbys-in endless combna-
ton but without pollution from the news
of the day.
Speaking generally, we guess that Eng
lsh surnames are more individual and
American given names more individual
But what can we say if Don MARQUIS of
Walnut, Bureau County, Ill.,, happens to
be in the house!