Naming the Baby, Randolph, Alabama http://files.usgwarchives.net/al/randolph/newspapers/babynaming.txt ============================================= USGENWEB PROJECT NOTICE: In keeping with the USGenWeb policy of providing free information on the Internet, this data may be used by non-commercial entities, as long as this message remains on all copied material. These electronic pages cannot be reproduced in any format for profit or for presentation by other persons or organizations. Persons or organizations desiring to use this material for purposes other than stated above must obtain the written consent of the file contributor. The submitter has given permission to the USGenWeb Project Archives to store the file permanently for free access. This file is copyrighted and contributed by: William Fischer, Jr. ============================================= July 2002 NAMING THE BABY ------------------------------ If ever there is a time for the exercise of common sense it is when a baby is to receive the name it has to wear through life. The baby is helpless. When it gets old enough to kick, the name is fixed and death only can relieve the situation. Therefore, I want to make a few suggestions in the interest of this helpless class of humanity. I have never been in sympathy with the practice some fond fathers have of giving their own names to their sons. Often it is hard enough on the little fellow to have to bear the father’s surname. Then he must ever use “Jr” as a kind of caudal appendage to his entitlements. Also it savors of egotism on the part of the doting father. Nor ought our infant life to he hampered with the name of some of earth’s great men -- a name that he can hardly hope to live up to. George Washington, Andrew Jackson, and others have been so overworked that the very sight of their initials preceeding a surname makes one guess the full name. It is a little risky to name the child for those who are still living. He for whom the child is named may steal a horse or beat his wife. You can’t tell what may happen, and so to avoid possible embarrassment you had better select something else. Many a man, in his exuberant patriotism or partisanship, named his boy Grover [for President Grover Cleveland], and later, in the palmy days of populism, spent much time in “cussin” his son’s illustrious namesake. Many romantic mothers impose upon their offspring the names of their favorite heroes and heroines of fiction and later in life regret that they were so lacking in sense. So do their unfortunate children. Another mistake of the same class of parents is to give the cute little thing a name expressive of its cuteness. When the child comes to be a six footer its cuteness has disappeared, but its name hasn’t. It is better not to give double names to girls. They are never expected to use their initials but are expected [to] add another name at some interesting period of their existence. The retention of their maiden name will then indicate the family connection without overloading on names. About the most foolish thing of all is to deny the child a name altogether and in lieu thereof to label it with a couple of letters from the alphabet -- its father’s initials or those of some one else. That plan is all right for a Texas pony or an army mule, where the letters are to be branded on the hip, but it is hardly the thing for a civilized human being. The best rule I can give is to get good sensible names for the children -- plain common names that stand for the simple manhood and womanhood of our country and befit the sterling integrity of American citizenship. I sympathize with these helpless children, and so would you if you had all your life had to wear such a name as Simon Simpleton [the author of this column - a pseudonym?] [From The Roanoke Leader (Randolph County, Alabama), 3 Jun 1903, p.2] ---------- Sage advice that stands one hundred years later. I am indeed saddled with “Jr.,” but no “III” is found among my sons.