NAMING THE BABY.

Waikato Times, Volume XXXVIII, Issue 3076, 2 April 1892, Page 1 (Supplement)

NAMING THE BABY.

A Hindoo baby is named when it is twelvo dayß old, nnd usually by the m-jther. Somorimes tl.e fa'lier wifihos fur another namo than iliat selected by the mother. In that ca«e two lamps are placed over tho twi names, and tho name over wliich the lamp burns the brightest is tho odd given to tho child. In tho Egyptian family the parents choose a name for their family by lighting three wax candles ; to each of theee they give a name, one of tho throe always belonging to some personage. Tho candle that burns tho longest bestows the name upon the baby. The Mohammedans sometimes write desirable names on five slips of paper, and these they place in ths Koran. The name upon the first slip drawn out is given to the child. The children of the Ainos, a peoplo living in Northern Japan, do not receive their namo until they are five years old. II is the father who then chooses the name by which the child is afterwards called.

The Chinese give their boy babies a name in addition to their surnames, and and they must call themselves by tlie.se names until they are twenty years old. At that ago the father gives his son a now name.