88
��Names and Nicknames.
��local circumstance she wearies of that name and becomes Jane. Both are equally hers, but her acquaintances who knew her as Mary might well plead ig- norance when asked about Jane Smith ; and the acquaintances of the latter might never surmise that Mary Smith had ever existed.
Again, James Henry Gray is kno\vn at home in his youth as James H.Gray, and the name is very satisfactory to him ; but as he arrives at manhood he enters a new business and finds a new residence. For some reason he thinks that a change of name also may be of benefit to him, and therefore he signs himself J. Henry Gray, and henceforth is a stranger to his former acquaintances. He has some money in bank at his old home which he draws for under his new name, and wonders when his check comes back to him dishonored, forgetting that he has never notified the officers of his change of name.
He finds it necessary, upon some oc- casion, to write to one of his former friends for information of importance, and is surprised that his old associate declines to give it to a stranger, for he does not remember, that; while he may easily retain his own identity, under any change of name, it may not be so easy to assure it to another at a distance. It can thus be seen how easily, and at times, how unavoidably, a great deal of vexation may be produced by this prac- tice, and yet it is extensively followed.
Looking at the subject in another as- pect, we find a grievance that has borne and is now bearing with intolerable weight upon many an individual, who would, at almost any sacrifice, reheve himself of it, but it is saddled upon him in such a manner, and is surrounded by such circumstances as to render it quite impossible for him to do so. It is a practice, all too common, but none the
��less reprehensible, to give to children legitimate names of such a character as to render them veritable " old men of the sea," so graphically described by Sindbad.
They are given for various reasons, sometimes simply for their oddity, some- times because the nam.e has been borne by a relative or friend, or it rnay have been borrowed from the pages of some favorite author, or suggested by acci- dental circumstance. A boy whose Christian name was Baring Folly, and we should not have far to go to find its counterpart in real hfe, could hardly be expected to get through the world with- out feeling severely the burden and rid- icule of such a name, each part proper and well enough in its place as a sur- name, but particularly unfortunate when united and required to do duty as a Christian name.
We ridicule, and it may be wisely, the old-fashioned custom of giving a child a name merely because it hap- pened to be found in the Scriptures, where with its special meaning it was singularly appropriate, yet, when used as a name without that special signifi- cation, it would be equally inappropriate. But are we wholly free from the same fault in another direction ? How many children have been so burdened with a name that had been made illustrious by the life and services of its original bearer that they were always ashamed to hear it spoicen ; that very name of honor becoming in its present position a reproach and a hindrance, rather than a stimulus, because the bearers feel that they cannot sustain its ancient re- nown, and therefore they become mere nothings, simply from the fact of hav- ing been borne down to the dust under the burden of a great name.
Who can tell how many have become notorious, or have committed vagaries
�� �
