American Language (101 page)

I once knew an American family, of German origin, in which it was an immemorial custom to name every son
John
. There were eight or ten in that generation: they were distinguished by their middle names, which ranged from
Adam
to
Thomas
. After the publication of the Genevan Bible, in 1570, children began to be given Biblical names in England, but the fashion lasted only long enough to be transplanted to the New World, where vestiges of it are still encountered. I find
Reuben, Zebulon
and
Josh
(apparently a clipped form of
Joshua
) on the roll of the Seventy-fourth Congress, and
Ezra, Hiram, Ezekiel, Zechariah, Elijah, Isaiah
and
Elihu
in “Who’s Who in America.” These names excite the derision of the English; an American comic character, in an English novel or play, usually bears one — that is, when he is not named
Jefferson
or
Washington
. The pious extravagances of the Puritan nomenclature belong to half-forgotten history, but they are recalled by certain surviving
women’s names,
e.g., Mercy, Faith, Charity, Hope
and
Prudence
, and by occasional men’s names,
e.g., Peregrine
and
Preserved
. The more old-fashioned Mormons sometimes name their children after eminent characters in the demonology of their faith,
e.g., Nephi, Lehi, Mahonri
and
Moroni
, all of which are to be found in the Salt Lake City telephone directory, along with many
Hebers, Jareds
and
Lamans
. But the younger generation leans toward more fanciful names,
e.g., La Rue, Yerma, Tola
and
Lavar
for girls,
La Mar, Feramorz
and
Herald
for boys, and
La Verne
for both girls and boys. Among the Youngs of Salt Lake I find two
Brighams
, a
Percival
, a
Don Carlos
, a
Spencer
, a
Seymour
and a
Leslie
, but no
Nephi
or
Moroni
.
¹⁰²
Some years ago a devout Norwegian Mormon in Salt Lake City named his twin sons
Cherubim
and
Seraphim
. The use of surnames as given-names is far more general in the United States than in England, or, indeed, than in any other country. Fully three out of four eldest sons, in American families of any pretensions, bear their mothers’ surnames either as first names or as middle names. This use of surnames originated in England during the Seventeenth Century, and one of its fruits was the adoption of a number of distinguished names,
e.g., Cecil, Howard, Douglas, Percy, Duncan
and
Stanley
, as common given-names.
¹⁰³
But the English began a return to
John, Charles
and
William
during the century following, and now the use of surnames is distinctively American. Of the fourteen Presidents of the United States who have had middle names at all, nine have had family names, and of these three dropped their given-names and used these family names instead. Six other Presidents have had family names as given-names. This makes fifteen in all, or half the whole number since Washington. On the roll of the House of Representatives, Seventy-fourth Congress, I find Representatives christened
Graham, Prentiss, Bryant, Wilburn, Glover, Parker, Colgate, Braswell, Everett, Usher, Wall, Aubert, Hampton, Allard, Finly, Byron, Dow, Lister, Marvin, Maury, Tilman, Jennings, Comp-ton
and
Hatton
, beside the usual
Randolphs, Chesters, Lloyds, Cliffords, Melvins, Schuylers, Wesleys, Miltons, Deweys, Clevelands, Bayards, Warrens, Chaunceys
and
Elmers. Chauncey
was the surname of the second president of Harvard (1654–72). It was bestowed upon their offspring by some of his graduates, and came into immediate
popularity, possibly on the ground that it had a vaguely Biblical smack.
Elmer
was the surname of two brothers of New Jersey who played active but forgotten parts in the Revolution.
¹⁰⁴
Washington, Jefferson, Jackson, Lincoln, Marshall, Columbus, Lee, Calvin, Luther, Wesley
and
Homer
, all familiar given-names in the United States, are quite unknown in England. It is common in this country for a woman, on marrying, to use her maiden surname as a middle name; thus, Miss
Mary Jones
, on becoming Mrs.
Brown
, signs herself
Mary Jones Brown
. It is also common, as I have noted in Section 1 of this chapter, for divorcées to use their maiden surnames in combination with their late husbands’ names, either with or without hyphenization; thus, Mrs.
John Brown
, née
Jones
, on leaving John’s bed and board, becomes either Mrs.
Jones-Brown
or Mrs.
Jones Brown
.

Many strange given-names are to be found in any American list of names. A former Chicago judge, once constantly in the newspapers, was baptized
Kenesaw Mountain
, after the scene of General W. T. Sherman’s defeat on June 27, 1864.
¹⁰⁵
The general himself had
Tecumseh
for his middle name — one of the very few cases of a white man bearing an Indian name in American history. He was called
Cump
by Mrs. Sherman. A late politico of New York, once a candidate for Governor, had the given-name of
D-Cady
, and a late American ethnologist, McGee, always insisted that his first name was simply
W J
, and that these letters were not initials and should not be followed by periods. A public accountant in Philadelphia is
Will-A
. Clader: he tells me that “the hyphen is the result of poor chirogra-phy” and that he adopted the style because people began using it in writing to him. In Connecticut, some years ago, there was a politician named K. N. Bill whose given-names were
Kansas Nebraska
, and he had a sister baptized
Missouri Compromise
.
¹⁰⁶
The
chaplain of the United States Senate is the Rev. Ze
Barney
T. Phillips, D.D.: the Public Printer had to have a character specially cut to print the name.
¹⁰⁷
A well-known American writer, of Spanish ancestry, is
Emjo
Basshe. His given names were originally
Emmanuel Jode Abarbanel
. “When I grew older,” he says, “and realized that one could not carry around so many names without tripping I took
Em
from my first name and
Jo
from my second, and
Em Jo
came to life. Foolishly I did not join the two, and a lot of critics had a holiday with them. But I did later, and
Emjo
became my name, legally and otherwise.”
¹⁰⁸
There was a Revolutionary patriot named
Daniel of St. Thomas
Jenifer, and he has a descendant of that name in Maryland today. Thornton reprints a paragraph from the
Congressional Globe
of June 15, 1854, alleging that in 1846, during the row over the Oregon boundary, when “Fifty-four forty or fight” was a political slogan, many “canal-boats, and even some of the babies … were christened
54° 40’.
”

In many minor ways there are differences in nomenclatural usage between England and the United States. The English, especially of the upper classes, frequently give a boy three or more given-names, but it is most unusual in the United States.
Michael
is now fashionable in England, but here it is bestowed only rarely.
¹⁰⁹
Evelyn
, in England, is given to boys as well as girls, but not in this country, though
Florence
is sometimes encountered among Irishmen, and a late Governor of Kentucky, indubitably he, was the Hon.
Ruby
Laffoon. Many aristocratic English given-names,
e.g., Reginald, Algernon, Percy, Wilfred, Cedric, Cyril, Cecil, Aubrey
and
Claude
, are commonly looked upon as sissified in the United States, and any boy who bears one of them is likely to have to defend it with his fists.
¹¹⁰
Only one
Percival
, so far as I know, has ever appeared in “Who’s Who in America.” It is very uncommon, in England, for diminutives to be bestowed at baptism, but in this country many girls are christened
Peggy, Flo, Mamie, Mollie
or
Beth
, and on the roll of the Seventy-fourth Congress I find a
Ben
, a
Phil
, a
Josh
, a
Bert
, a
Dan
, a
Tom
, an
Abe
, a.
Nat
, a
Sol
, a
Hattie
(once the only lady Senator), a
Fritz
, two
Pats
(both in the Senate), two
Wills
, three
Joes
, five
Sams
, five
Harrys
and seven
Freds
. The Texas delegation alone, twenty-three head of he-men, shows a
Tom
, a
Sam
, a
Nat
, a
Joe
and a
Fritz
. The Newton study of American given-names puts
Harry
in thirteenth place, with 1112 occurrences in every 100,000 individuals, and
Fred
in twenty-seventh, with 509. The English
Hal
is seldom used in this country; here the usual diminutives for
Henry
are
Harry, Hank
and
Hen. Alf
is also uncommon in the United States, and
Jem
is unknown.
Ted
, in England, is the diminutive for
Edward
; here it is used for
Theodore
, especially in the form of
Teddy
. In the Southern highlands, says Dr. Josiah Combs,
¹¹¹
diminutives are very widely used, and “any highlander is lucky if he escapes with his original first-name.” The same might be said of most parts of the country. Dr. Combs gives some examples:
Ad
for
Adam, Cece
for
Cecil, Am
for
Ambrose, Clem
for
Clement, Hence
for
Henderson, Jace
for
Jason, Lom
for
Columbus, Newt
for
Newton, Gid
for
Gideon, Lige
for
Elijah, Rance
for
Ransom, Ves
for
Sylvester
, and
Zach
for
Zachariah
, and, among girls’ names,
Barb
for
Barbara, Em
for
Emma, Marg
for
Margaret, Millie
for
Millicent, Mildred
and
Amelia, Phronie
for
Sophronia, Suke
or
Sukey
for
Susan, Tavia
for
Octavia, Marth
for
Martha, Tildy
for
Matilda
, and
Tish
for
Letitia
. He might have added a great many more,
e.g., Lafe
for
Lafayette, Wash
for
Washington, Jeff
for
Jefferson, Frank
for
Francis, Bill
for
William, Mollie
for Mary,
Mamie
or
Polly
for
Margaret, Lizzie
or Betty for
Elizabeth
,
Gussie
for
Augusta
, and so on. The common mountain name for any boy, he says, is
Bud
, for any male,
Baby
, and for any female,
Sug
.
¹¹²
A number of given-names are pronounced differently in England
and America.
Evelyn
, in England, is given two syllables instead of three and the first is made to rhyme with
leave. Irene
is given three syllables, making it
Irene-y. Ralph
is sometimes pronounced
Rafe
, and
Jerome
is accented on the first syllable. Some years ago there was a fashion for changing the spelling of American girls’ names, and the country bloomed with
Sharlots, Ysobels, Edythes, Kathryns, Goldyes, Sadyes
and
Maes
, but now only
Mae
appears to flourish. Despite the frequent bestowal of diminutives at baptism, I believe that their use is also declining. When I was a boy it was very rare, at least in the South, to hear such names as
William, Charles, Frederick, Elizabeth, Margaret
and
Lillian
uttered in full, but now it is common. Finally, the American custom of annexing the regal
II, III
, etc., to the surnames of boys bearing the given names of uncles, grandfathers or other relatives is quite unknown in the Motherland,
¹¹³
and so it is the custom, now happily passing, of addressing boys named after their fathers as
Junior
.

There are some regional differences in American given-names. In the South it is common for a girl to be given a surname as a given-name. Thus
Barnett
Snodgrass or
Powell
Smith may be female and lovely. Mrs. George E. Pickett, the second wife of the general, was baptized
La Salle
and called
Sally. Beverly
and
Shirley
are often encountered. Sometimes a girl is actually called
George, Frank
or
Charles
, after her father. It is also a custom down there to give a girl two names, and to call her by both. If she is christened
Eva Belle
she remains
Eva Belle
on all occasions, and is never merely
Eva
or
Belle
. Even the servants are always careful to call her
Miss Eva Belle
. These peculiarities are to be observed among the gentry; on
lower levels there is a prodigious efflorescence of curious feminine names. The aim of every mother is to find a name for her darling that will be both exquisite and unprecedented, and not infrequently a rich if somewhat untutored fancy enters into the process. In the Cumberland Mountains of Tennessee a recent inquirer unearthed
Olsie, Hassie, Coba, Bleba, Onza, Retha, Otella
and
Latrina
.
¹¹⁴
“One girl,” he says, “was named
Vest
for no other reason than that her father wrapped her in his vest (English:
waistcoat
) when she was only a week old and carried her proudly across the hollow to display his first-born before admiring neighbors.” Another girl was called
Delphia
“cause her Pa, he went to Philadelphia once.” In the same vicinity lived a girl named
Trailing Arbutus Vines
. Another investigator, this time in the Blue Ridge of Virginia, found girls named
Needa, Zannis, Avaline
and
Weeda
(the last possibly a corruption of
Ouida
).
¹¹⁵
Bold combinations of common given-names are frequent,
e.g., Lucybelle, Floramay, Lilymary
and
Sallyrose
. Dr. Louise Pound has unearthed some curious examples,
e.g., Olouise
(from
Olive
and
Louise
),
Marjette
(
Marjorie
+
Henrietta
),
Maybeth
(
May
+
Elizabeth
),
Lunette
(
Luna
+
Nettie
),
Leilabeth
(
Leila
+
Elizabeth
),
Rosella
(
Rose + Bella
),
Adrielle
(
Adrienna
+
Belle
),
Birdene
(
Birdie
+
Pauline
),
Bethene
(
Elizabeth
+
Christine
),
Ola-belle
(
Ola
+
Isabel
), and
Armina
(
Ardelia
+
Wilhelmina
).
¹¹⁶
Even surnames and men’s given-names are employed in these feminine blends, as in
Romiette
(
Romeo
+
Juliette
),
Adnelle
(
Addison
+
Nellie
),
Adelloyd
(
Addie
+
Lloyd
), and
Charline
(
Charles
+
Pauline
). A woman professor in the Middle West has the given-name of
Eldarema
, coined from those of her grandparents,
Elkanah, Daniel, Rebecca
and
Mary
. The common feminine endings are often used to make entirely new names, some of them very florid in fancy. From Iowa Miss Katherine Buxbaum, of the State Teachers College at Cedar Falls, reports
Darlene, Ombra, Orba, Eneatha, Bashie, Arrazeta, Averill, Beatha, Berneita, Burtyce, Chalene, Clarene, Coelo, Colice, Denva, Garnette, Glenice, Glenola, Icel, Lavaun, La Una, Mirnada, Orvetta, Retha, Twila, Vella, Verlie, Vista, Vola, Waive
and
Wave
.
¹¹⁷
From Idaho come
Lejitta, Neuta, Navilla, Uarda, Du-priel, Jeneal, Onola, Oha, Dretha, Vilda, Verla, Utahna
and
Fava
; from Texas,
Estha, Edina, Blooma, Ardis, Iantha, Inabeth, Versey, Vivinne, DeRue, Leora, Ila, Gomeria, Swanell, Verla
and
Valaria
;
¹¹⁸
from Western Maryland,
Le Esta, Dolor, Philadelphia, Emavida
and
Uretha
; from Rhode Island,
Murdena, Seril, Besma, Varlow, Satyra, Ithamer, Zilpah
and
Mosetta
;
¹¹⁹
from Alabama,
Luda, Arrillah, Pet, Eusona, Leetha, Conola, Aklus, Metella, Homera
and
Mahala
;
¹²⁰
and from the Pacific Coast,
Mauna Loa, Icy Victorious, Henriola, Mirrle, Euliel, Catalpa, Syringia, Wistaria
and
Eschscholtzia
.
¹²¹
These regions of onomatological new growth, of course, are predominantly Protestant; in the domains of Holy Church the priests insist upon saints’ names, or at all events upon names that conceivable saints might conceivably bear. It would be a mistake, however, to assume that only the lowly patronize novel girls’ names. A correspondent in New York has unearthed the following from the Social Register for 1933 and 1934:
Ambolena, Adgurtha, Anzonetta, Armella, Helentzi, Theotiste, Thusnelda, Berinthia, Belva Dula, Credilla, Chancie, Daisette, Estherina, Columbia Maypole, Melrose Abbey, Edelweiss, Yetive, Nopie, Velvalee, Lotawana, Isophene
and
Lamiza
.