“NAME THIS CHILD."

Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume XXXX, Issue 5378, 23 January 1929, Page 4

“NAME THIS CHILD. "

A LIFETIME’S LABEL. CHANGING FASHIONS. “What’s in a name ?” “Lots,” emphatically says the small boy at school whose doubtless well-meaning but obviously thoughtless parents have christened him Napoleon Sebastian. It would not be so bad, if his surname was in keeping with these grandiloquent appellations, but as it happens to be Smith—well, there is nothing more to be said- A boy at school cannot pos.sibly hide his Christian names, and parents should take this into consideration when deciding the momentous question as to what the latest arrival shall be called. Care, too, should be exercised when it domes to having a girl. If, for instance, she is called Lorraine or Peronhe, as some unfortunates have been, the date of her birth is immediately set down, beyond any question as somewhere between 1914 and 1918, Hence in 1950 it will be quite useless for. Miss Lorraine JPnes or Miss Peronne Brown to confess to only 25 summers, for her name will reveal to anyone capable of doing a simple sum of mental arithmetic that she has seen some 35 of. them.

Before the proverbial stork sets out on h’s expected visit there is usually much family speculation and confabulation as to what the little stranger shall be called, with due allowance for the delightful uncertainty as to the sex of the one to be named. Matters ar.e sometimes complicated by the fact that there is a rich uncle or aunt who, with a view to the future, must be placated, and in that case the unfortunate infant subsequently wakes up to the fact that he or she has to go through life bearing such combination names as Clarence Hector Alolpbus or Hester Georgina. But often when it comes to naming the baby there is ho express need for remembering rich relatives and departed ancestors; then it is that fancy runs riot, the helpless infant being labelled . for. life according to the whims of his or her. parents. And onc,e done the damage is irrevocable. There is a fashion in names, especially in girls names. When Dickens wrote “ David Copperfield ” he did not know he would make Dora the most popular girl’s name in England. Then came Tennyson’s “Maud,” and Marie Corelli’s novel “Thelma” was responsible fot the naming (and, subsequent dating) of numbers of the fair sex. The South African War and the Great War wer.e responsible for the names of many boys who had the fortune or misfortune to be bprn at that time. French, Roberts, Kitchener, Haig, Beatty, and a score or more hero-names are now carried by boys and young men who, if they expressed their thoughts aloud, would say that mother and dad shouddl have had more sense.

If an inspection is made of school rolls of the presept day much information can be gleaned as to the trend of fashion in names. Cinema stars and heroines of well-known novels are leaving their mark on the nomenclature of- the rising generation. There are Pearls and Glorias not to mention Lora, Susa, Mena andiNorleen. Gone apparently are the oldfashioned! names like Lucy, Ellen, ■Martha, Fanny, and’ Tillie, although the Duchess of York has put Elizabeth and Betty into favour. There are very’ few Maiids to oemc into the garden, and one may well echo “ Alice ! where art thou ?” At the present time it would) seem as if Joan is one of the most popular of girls’ names.

As. far as boys are concerned the high-sounding aristocratic .names of twenty or more years ago have almost disappeared. Percival, Reginald, Adolphus, Horace, Clarence and: Lionel will hardly figure at all on any school list, good bld Saxon names taking their place. One boy in ten in thes;e days seems to be called John or Jack, William, Robert, James all following close on John’s heels, with Harold, Arthur, Fred, George, Thomas, and Alfred! following up in the rear, Albert, Richard, Edward, and! Charles seem to have gone out of favour of late.

Many parsons can tell of weird and fancilful names which they have been called upon to bestow upon the little bundles of. humanity presented to them, names which through a little tactful suggestions on theh parson’s part have in the end hot been adopted. — Evening Post.