'Twas Ever Thus...

For this edition of 'Twas Ever Thus we take a look at the opinions of a journalist in a Scottish newspaper in 1900 concerning the trend of giving children "outlandish" names, second, third and fourth names, same initials, and family-surnames-as-first names.  

 

OUR CHILDREN'S NAMES.    It always seems to me in choosing names for one's children that their feelings on the subject should be of paramount importance.    Yet how many unoffending babes are there who are foredoomed to much discomfort (if not misery) throughout childhood because their parents will not take the trouble to consider the consequences which must inevitably result from giving them an outlandish name?    Why should a boy, because he happens to be the son of a music loving father, be condemned to stagger through life under the title of "Bach Beethoven Tschaikowski," or what excuse is there for obliging a boy to answer to the name of "Julius Caesar"?    Girls too, are often given sentimental, high-sounding names, and many a bad-tempered little maid becomes still more so when she is sneered at by her school-fellows as "Angelina" or "Pearl"; and it is certainly trying to a rubicund little dumpling to own that she is a "Blanche."    Moreover, many children grow up with a bitter grudge against uncles, aunts, or old cousins who do nothing more for them than the handing on of an uncouth surname, which had to do instead of a proper Christian name.      Again, why is a hapless babe forced to go through life with two, three or four names when one would do? The craze for many names is comparatively modern. Before the Stuarts no child was given two; the practice was rare up to the Revolution, and became common only under the Hanovarians. In China at the present time the number of names given generally has some relation to rank, those children with three names being of superior station to those who possess only two; but what civilised man or woman is there in this busy age who is not devoutly thankful that his other signature involves but one Christian name?     Then why should children be named after their parents, thus causing endless confusion in later years.     Parents would do well, too, to see that all their children have a different initial for the first name, as much trouble is often caused when this simple expedient is not adopted.   The Courier and Argus  (Dundee), Tuesday, October 23, 1900