Montana oil and mining journal. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1931-1953, 1940-08-10
How Indians Were Named i S: &; e.; $ :: :: : S=
BY ELMO

An Indian mother placed her
baby sen under a tree one day
while she busted herself preparing
a MONDAY meal for her husband
the master Of her lodge. The little
fellow was bound to q board, as
was the fashion of his people, and
his body was enshr0uded in the
dressed skin of deer. He was held
stiffly erect, but comfortable, In
his primitive cradle. A hoop was
bowed across the top Of the board
to protect his face, should he by
miSchance fall forward.
The thunder bird flew above the
tree, and a rain fell.
The mother, busy with her tasks, had
for the moment forgotten her dusky
offspring and a neighbor ran TO tell
her that the rain was falling in her
babys face. The mother rushed to
bring the baby to the shelter of the
tepee where, with grooming endear-
ments, she wiped his face dry.
The father looked up from his rest
ing place and gathering the import OF
the outpouring, smiled and said In the
Sioux tongue
1T is a sign. Let him be called Rain
in-the-Face."
So trivial thing as a thunder show
er meant name.
All this occurred away back in the
days when white men were still seek
ing the valuable beaver along the Mon
tana streams, the while keeping their
powder dry and weather eye upon
the trail against hostile warriors. The
christening of the baby Rain-in-the-
Face brought no expressions OF inter-
est in the primitive land other than
from his own people.
Name Became Famous
In a few decades, however, the name
of ain-in-the-Face would become IA
NOUS, first as that of Sioux war chief
and later as a leader of his people on
the White Mans Road at the Standing
Rock reservation in North Dakota.
The Sioux syllables for the name Of
Rain-in-the-Face have faded into the
limbo Of forgotten things, so far as
white men are concerned. Only the
English translation remains.
The Indian tribes of the frontier had
no nomenclature of names, either for
individuals or family groups. Many In
dams had names of similar meaning,
with no direct association of relation
ship or family friendships.
The nearest thing to a family name
or symbol of general relationship be-
tween families and groups was a totem,
such as the bear, eagle, horse, otter,
beaver. birds. 10 LIlaL mouse, OF group
of families, the totem animal was
sacred Families of the totem refrained
from killing the thing so cherished. II
the animal or bird we're an ordinary
source of food, its adherentS would not
eat of its flesh, on the theory that to
do so would be to eat the flesh OF a
brother. 1t was customary for Indians
to refrain from marriage within their
own totem ON the same theory that
makes civilized people prohibit the
marriage of closely related individuals.
Indian names were derived from ami
mails and birds, the earth. the sun, the
stars. the moon and its phases, and
from rivers and lakes. Some asSocia-
ton with these objects, parental
whim, or some event affecting the m
dividual, dictated the selection OF the
name bestowed. Indian names with
ghost variations were always numer- |
Gus, since the ghoSt-world held sig
nificant place in Indian living and
thinking.
It was not uncommon for an Indian
child to go unnamed until well toward
maturity if nothing occurred to sug-
gest a meaningful name. Often. the
first-born of a family. would receive
name and later children were desig-
mated in numerical order. Many In
dian children were known into late
youth only as the son or daughter OF
So and So. Sometimes an Indian bore
many names during his life, changing