Given Names Formerly in Common Use

PUBLICATIONS OF THE GENEALOGICAL SOCIETY OF PENNSYLVANIA. Vol. VIII. MARCH, 1923. No. 3. GIVEN NAMES FORMERLY IN COMMON USE. BY CHARLES P. KEITH, LITT. D. (President of The Genealogical Society of Pennsylvania) AN ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE SOCIETY AT THE ANNUAL MEETING MARCH 5, 1923. In most ages of the world, as far as history discloses, men had but a single real name, for we cannot call the title Pharaoh, or the throne name of an Egyptian king, an additional name like a modern surname, any more than the word Great or the description “son of” so and so. We count as a single irreducible name even a complete sentence, such as “ Nebo, protect the boundaries”, or whatever a certain word translated “boundaries” in Nebuchadnezzar’s name means. The Romans, at least for their patricians, had a system of names different from that in use among other people. Take the full names Caius Julius Caesar and Marcus Tullius Cicero. Here in Caius and Marcus we see a first name or pmnomen, conferred upon an individual, but scarcely remem¬ bered outside except in the case of Tiberius’s successor Caius. Then came the nomen, looking like what we call a middle name, but which was the family or tribal name, the name of the gens, as Julius and Tullius; and finally came the cognomen, the 224 Given Names Formerly in Common Use. hereditary name of the particular branch of the tribe, as Caesar and Cicero. Additional adjectives were applied to or assumed by heroes and Emperors, as Germanicus and Africanus, while Caesar became a part of the name of all who succeeded or were expected to succeed Julius Caesar in power, scarcely any of whom were of his blood. Girls had no given name, but were known according to order of birth as Julia prima, Julia secunda, Julia tertia, and so forth. This was reformed as Christianity spread, with its baptismal rite. As far as I am aware, there was no extension of the system of a gens name and a branch name among Rome’s common people or her conquered people, although in individual instances, friends, freedmen, or flatterers adopted names, as the Jewish historian Josephus called himself Flavius Josephus after the Emperor Vespasian and Titus. It was rather usual for a provincial, on receiving Roman citizen¬ ship, to take a Roman name, either prsenomen or as frequently nomen. Notwithstanding such copying by persons outside, the name system fell with the disappearance of the descendants of the old gentes: and the world, except what obeyed the Emperor at Constantinople, went back to single names, distinguishing those who bore identical ones by saying “ son of” so and so. Centuries, varying in number with nations and social classes, elapsed before there was general use of heritable surnames, nobles apparently being the pioneers by appending the name of their residences with the preposition “ de ” or “ von.” Nowadays, everybody whose ancestry dwelt in Western Europe has two names, and really only two. What we call middle names belong to the first or the last name, and until very recently were made part thereof by hyphens in the Peerage books, and, in the last editions, the whole compound last name is connected by hyphens. The last Duke of Buckingham and Chandos, he died in 1889 had as his first name, evidently pronounced at his baptism three words: Richard-PlantagenetCampbell, and as his last name five words: Temple-NugentBrydges-Chandos-Grenville, a rather extreme instance of the practice, common in the two last centuries in the upper classes of England, of adding other family names to the patronymic. With most families of our acquaintance, the given names a few generations back have, as a rule, been what had become — — — Given Names Formerly in Common Use. 22S a single word, although like Dorothy, meaning in Greek the gift of God, it amounted to a noun and qualifying word. From Miss Young’s exhaustive History of Christian Names, I learn that Dorothy was once the most common name among English girls, and that its contraction, Dolly, is the origin of the word doll for a child’s make-believe baby. The practice of christening with more than one name, or as I say, a com¬ pound name made up of several, was adopted in Continental Europe for the purpose either of securing the favor of more than a single saint, or of giving the person baptized some choice as to what he should be usually called, particularly if succeed¬ ing to rank and title. Recently Albert Edward, Prince of Wales, chose as King of England to be called Edward. The giving of several names in baptism was not introduced into the British Isles much before the Restoration of Charles II, and was for quite a while infrequent, and may be said now to be largely confined to the families of the King and nobility. In America there were few instances before the last century, and even now it is not universal. Generally it is the transference of some¬ body’s full name, surname and all, to be the given name of the child. The full name so transferred may be that of the mother’s father or brother, or that of George Washington, Benjamin Franklin, or other great personage, at one time often Joseph Warren, the Revolutionary hero. A first name, whether simple or compound, is one given, a last name is one inherited or taken to be transmitted by inheritance. The giving is often part of a ceremony, and with the majority of those around us has been given in baptism, hence the term baptismal or Christian name. I will use the term “given name” or “ first name” as of wider application. The last name, commonly called “surname,” after original assumption or reception by the family, is a matter of custom amounting to law, and is properly changed only by some sort of legal proceeding. The populace generally suppose that all persons of the same surname are related, unless the surname is Smith, and the neo¬ phytes in genealogy are inclined to prove a close relationship be¬ tween groups of persons of the same surname by showing that the groups have certain first names in common, unless it is the case of Smiths with the first name John. As a matter of fact, 226 Given Names Formerly in Common Use. in Pennsylvania in colonial days, there were not very many Smiths compared with Owens, Robertses, and other bearers of certain Welsh surnames, and the first question to ask was whether the particular Smith belonged to the large family of the “Burlington Smiths,” early settlers of Burlington, New Jersey. A friend of mine, born over one hundred years ago, told me that, in his early days, there were two wealthy Smith families in this city, which were nicknamed respectively the “gold Smiths” and the “silver Smiths,” and persons would say of a certain married lady “she was a silver Smith.” In a small community, it is fair to start with the hypothesis that all of the same surname are of one family, an hypothesis to be doubted or disproved by circumstances, say too many individ¬ uals or too great difference in social status: but when we are concerned with districts of greater extent and population, we recognize that those bearing surnames of business, as Smith, Fisher, Carpenter, Taylor, etc., or surnames denoting a father’s first name ,as Johnson or Jones, Richardson or Richards, etc., may be descended from unrelated persons; but surnames like Washington, originally de Wessington, derived from a small piece of land, indicate descent from the owner of that piece of land when such territorial name was assumed. Of course, in this country it is important to learn whether any stray George Washington is a white man, and so with the bearer of a distinguished American family name. Confining ourselves to Caucasians, as wre may assume the English records do, wre may, even when the surname is a common one, make a genealogical argument from the rest of the name: a Warner Jones would probably be descended from a Jones who married a Warner; two Charles Marshall Joneses must be related. Sometimes we may find a clue to the father in a given name, if, for instance, it is that of an historical character likely to be much regarded by a certain kind of man. At one time it would have been a fair guess that a man whose first name was Crispin was son of a shoemaker, St. Crispin being patron saint of that trade. Pennsylvanians have known Crispin as a surname. Nowadays for the father of a De Molay, look for a modern Knight Tem¬ plar. It is pretty safe to say, if a boy has been named George Herbert, Robert Leighton or merely Leighton, or Reginald Given Names Formerly in Common Use. 227 Heber, that the father was an Episcopal clergyman. I made a mistake once: the father of a Reginald Heber was not a clergyman but a vestryman. When there is an ordinary first name borne by two or more persons of an ordinary sur¬ name, we must doubt any connection between them. The connection would be doubtful even if two or more fathers and mothers had called sons after an historical character, and very doubtful if the historical character was one whom everybody talked about. I have lately learned that there were two Thomas Mifflin Halls in Philadelphia about 1800 whose fathers were both named John Hall, unconnected so far as I know, Thomas Mifflin being an important statesman just before 1800. It would be expected that in the great number of unconnected Smiths, more than one would call a son Benjamin Franklin: it is at the same time conceivable that more than one might take a fancy to call a son Montezuma. It is not likely however, that a surprising idiosyncrasy would be found in two unconnected couples of a surname not widely spread. Where the given name has not been a surname or a full name used as a given name, in other words where, as in the majority of instances, we find a single word recorded as the given name, it is important to the tracer of relationships to know whether it seemed likely to be used only in one family, or was of ordinary or common use. The question what was an ordinary or com¬ mon given name depends upon the historical associations or other reasons prevalent at the time and place where the choice of a name was made. Such I propose to indicate in this paper, confining myself chiefly to what concerns the parts of the world respectively in which we and our ancestors during the Christian era live and have lived. I will only give what appears to me clear. You can not expect me to prove any negative statement. It is noticeable, that, notwithstanding the subjection of North¬ western Europe to the Senate and Roman People or at least its contact with them, the Roman given names or praenomina, like Gaiu3, or Caius, have not descended to us, although we have taken some of them from the saints. Even in Italy and what had been Roman colonies, Greek and Hebrew names spread with the propagation of Christianity. The commonest names in the world today are a corruption of the Hebrew Miriam we say — Given Names Formerly in Common Use. '228 — — Mary the name of the mother of the Lord, and a corruption of the Hebrew Jonah we say John that of the Beloved Dis¬ ciple. In the English Church there has been a rule that if a child is presented for baptism, and the sponsors give a blas¬ phemous or indecent name, the child shall be baptized John, if a boy, or Mary, if a girl. Hence the story of the girl baby, for whom the lisping godmother said ‘‘ Lucy, thir. ’ ’ The minister, thinking it was suggested to call a boy “ Lucifer,” quickly bap¬ tized the girl baby as “John.” While Christian missionaries, not always of Hebrew blood, were familiarizing the world with Hebrew names, sometimes in Greek form, the unconverted Jews, on the other hand, were often transmitting to their .posterity other than Hebrew names, in many cases Greek, and so adding to the prevalence of such. This began before the Christian era. There was an Alexander among the Asmonian king3 and a Philip among the Twelve Apostles, just as in our own day there are men of the race whose given names are Germanic derivatives. The Hebrews are the only Semitics among our ancestors, or their fellow-citi¬ zens or fellow subjects, unless we count the Phoenicians early in the British Isles as Semitics. In the countries bordering upon the Black Sea and the Mediterranean, various names have been found in the Dark Ages and since which have never been com¬ mon in Northern or Central Europe, and do not concern us. It is the Celtic, German, and Scandinavian races, from whatever last abode they came, who were the progenitors of what we call the American people. I use the word “German” to include the Franks and the Anglo-Saxons, and “Scandinavian ” to in¬ clude the Normans; so I must use the word “Celtic” to em¬ brace the people of Gaul, the Britons who settled Armorica or Brittany, the Piets and Scots, and the conglomeration of races, said to be Phoenician, Iberian, and of other origin, dwelling in Ireland beyond the English Pale. We can not say that the names among us of Celtic appear¬ ance were actually in use in Britain or France at the time of the Roman conquest. Certainly the names of the chieftains who then fought, do not appear in later generations, until we come to the days of scouring history to see what to call a child. Arthur is the most popular name of British origin. We are not — . Given Names Formerly in Common Use. 229 certain that it was borne by a human being before the heroic king of the Vlth Century; although Miss Young, in her book, just quoted, says positively that there was anciently a British deity called Arthur, and shows that the element Ard or Arth, meaning high or noble, was widely in use among the Celts. Charlemagne’s officer, Roland, called Rotlandus by a contem¬ porary chronicler, has been claimed as a Celt, very justly in my opinion. The wondrous stories attached to him have spread the name through the countries ruled over by Charlemagne, while in Wales it has come down to us as Rowland, a common name at the settlement of Pennsylvania. Not having been used much in Saxon England, it may be said to indicate Welsh blood in some line. In looking over the list of rulers in Church and State in Wales, Brittany, Ireland, and Scotland before the wide spread of saints names, we will notice the numerous nonCeltic names. The explanation is simple. Tradition points to the preaching of the Gospel both within and beyond the Roman districts at the time when the preachers mostly hailed from Syria and Asia Minor, and these and their successors caused the inhabitants to hear of Biblical and Hellenic names. There were among the later missionaries a number who were of Roman blood, and there was a practice of translating names of the clergy into Latin; but the only Roman name which has been perpetuated is Constantine. In Ireland, Bridget had been the most popular Celtic name, borne as it was by a nun, parish worker, or sort of Salvation lassie under St. Patrick; but the most popular name is that taken by the latter at his ordination in France. Patricius is the Latin word from which comes our ‘‘ patrician.’’ I used to think that he was called Patricius be¬ cause he “was a gintleman and came of daycent people,” but the Apostle of Ireland is said to have had a tutor named Pat¬ ricius. Affection for St. Patrick spread to the gentry of Scot¬ land. The archangel Michael, whose name is Hebrew, has, I can almost say, every fourth or fifth Irishman called after him, perhaps because he was early revered in Scotland. Another name popular among the Irish is Dennis, a Greek derivative, probably taken from the French St. Denis. Whether as a trace of the Medievalism which looked up to that martyr, or from the Protestantism which preferred Dionysius the Areopagite, we 230 Given Names Formerly in Common Use. find in the English parochial records here and there Dennis or Dionyse, a closer approximation to the Greek Dionysios. Wil¬ liam Penn had a son Dennis, who died early, named after the boy’s great-grandfather Dennis Hollister of Bristol. Brian and Neill, the distinctly Irish names, have been little used in Eng¬ lish families. I think that I may fairly say that, the Greek name Alexander, whether introduced by the early monks, or nearer the time when King Malcolm gave it to his son, is the most popular one north of the Tweed, spread through the Low¬ lands and into the Highlands. Andrew runs it closely. Don¬ ald, Duncan, and Kenneth are Celtic, but have not been often found in families wholly of other blood. An early method in Scotland of using the name of saints or angels was to call a per¬ son Kill or Giolla, Car, or Mai, i. e. servant, friend, or disciple of such saint or angel, for instance, Kilpatrick, Carmichael, Malcolm, names which except Malcolm appear now only as surnames. The Highland or Celtic Scotch had no part in the settlement of the North of Ireland, the half-way house of the Scotch-Irish to America. The Scotch who came directly hither prior to the American Revolution, were of the gentry or Low¬ land townspeople. Their blood was mostly Saxon or Norman, and so were their names, if not derived from intercourse with Continent?1 Europe. Philadelphia and its vicinity even before or independent of the immigration of Roman Catholic Irishmen, was the greatest seat in America of Celtic Christian names. The ancient Britons, retiring before the Saxons, went to Cornwall and the moun¬ tains of Cambria, or, as it is now called, Wales. The tin mines of Cornwall are said to have been worked by Phoenicians, and the idea was seriously broached that the Cornish family of Balhachet got its name from the god Baal. Cornwall may be dis¬ missed as the source of any well-known Christian names. The Welsh did not adopt surnames as early as the important per¬ sons in other nations, but, like the Scotch with the prefix Mac, son, and the Irish with O, descendant, distinguished a man by his father’s name prefixed by Ap; whence we get Ap Howell, now the surname Powell, and Ap Rees, now Price. The royal name Tudor was probably a Christian name dating back to the acquaintance of the British with Greek names. It is a corrup- Given Names Formerly in Common Use. 231 tion of Theodore. Certain Kings of greater or smaller districts of Wales bore the names Cadwalader and Griffith, which were, in Penn’s day, not uncommon as first names, but, under some variation in spelling, are now better known as the surnames of disconnected families. Pennsylvania was at first largely a col¬ ony of Welsh, and we meet constantly with Welsh first names, Owen, Evan, etc., as well as with the corresponding surnames formed with s, equivalent to apostrophe and s. The English Normans had considerable intercourse with the Welsh, the more powerful families often intermarrying, and thus French given names like Hugh and Robert were naturalized in Wales. From Wales or Brittany appears to have come the name Jocelyn and Joyce, the latter very common in England before the set¬ tlement of America. Harold is about the only popular name among us which has been derived from the Scandinavians. In the visitation pedi¬ grees there often occurs Randle or some variation of it such as Randolph or Ralph. Randall was not uncommon in Penn’s day. The function of the Normans in giving us names was chiefly the taking across the English Channel of those in vogue in France, and such, when not saints’ names, were of German origin. The heathen Germans in their names do not seem to have referred to their gods, but rather to have used figures of speech or epithets denoting qualities shown or hoped for. These have been carried by the Anglo-Saxons and the Franks to Western Europe, and, except for religious names, are the commonest among us. The Saxons in England made great use of the word Ead or Ed, meaning rich, calling persons Edward, rich guard, Edwin, rich friend, Edmund, rich protection, Edgar, rich spear, and so forth. The Franks in Gaul similarly made Hlod or Hlud, fame, a syllable, as we see in the name of the first Christian King, Chlodwig or Clovis, since perpetuated as Louis. The other combinations of Chlo as Clothaire, Clotilde, etc., have not been much used in England. Among the common names of Western Europe in varied spelling in the different languages, are the German words or phrases; Karl, a man or manly, Wilhelm, helmet of defence, Heinrich, ruler of the home, and Richard, stern king. Charles, William, Henry, 232 Given Names Formerly in Common Use. and Richard have held their own among English-speaking people to the present day. Miss Young notices the frequent occurrence of Avis or Avice in the early registers, deriving it from the German Hedwig, but it certainly was rare by the time of John French of Pennsylvania, about 1710, who had a wife Avis. The first converts to Christianity in many cases took at bap¬ tism a name expressing a Christian virtue, event, or status, or the name of the teacher through whom the faith was em¬ braced, and there were several instances before the Vth Century of persons called Quod vult Deus, anticipating the pious ejacula¬ tions among the English Puritans about twelve hundred years later. Yet Christian parents in the early centuries, when bring¬ ing their children to baptism, did not unanimously discard the names familiar to their ancestors, even if suggestive of the pagan gods. Along with a certain persistence in such, there came in time the use of saints’ names, either as examples for the child, or as invoking a guardianship for it. The saints most naturally selected were the New Testament worthies, the early martyrs or preachers, the patron saints of the respective nations, and the saint after whom the parish church was called. As to those without association with the locality, legends clus¬ tered around some, to the oblivion of others of equal merit, and to the obscuring of their own true history. Csecilia, a very early martyr, a Roman lady of patrician blood, made the name Cicely a common one in the English heralds’ visitation books. The masculine form is said to be the origin of Kilian, a name in the Van Rensselaer family of New York. Petronella, by which among females St. Peter was honored, appears in baronial pedigrees. Lawrence, a martyr of the Illrd Century, known chiefly from his gridiron, was also very popular “ when knighthood was in flower.” Georgios, whom we call George, who appears, Gibbon notwithstanding, to have been an early Christian martyr, a soldier by occupation, has been the patron saint of England since the Crusades. Miss Young declares his name, which early spread to Scotland, to be more used than any other in England, which may have been true in her own day, after a century and a half of toadyism to the Hanoverian kings; but it does not predominate in America, where there Given Names Formerly in Common Use. 233 have been so many followers of George Fox and so many reverers of George Washington. The Apostle Andrew was the patron saint of Scotland. Nicolas, Bishop of Myra in the IVth Century, who is the original of Santa Claus, has had numerous persons named after him in Holland, and on the Hudson. Miss Young does not mention the name Nicasius, which I suppose was a variation of Nicolas. Admiral Penn’s wife was the widow of Nicasius van der Schuren. I can think of only one Nicolas among the early emigrants to Pennsylvania, Nicho¬ las Newlin from Ireland. The name Nicholas spelt in England with an h, which spoils the Greek appearance, was transmitted from Nicholas Scull, the surveyor of about 1750, to Nicholas Biddle, his descendant, the celebrated financier. Outside of that family, I should call it a rare name among us. Very different naturally is David, because of our Welsh element; David, Bishop of Menevia, was patron saint of Wales. Not all the saints in the calendar nor even the greatest in the history of Christendom have had many Englishmen called after them. John Chrysostom or Chrysostom by itself is an uncommon first name. Thomas a Becket, rather than Thomas the Apostle, made Thomas a popular Christian name, lasting as such through the centuries since the subjection of the ecclesiastical to the civil power, the ultimate defeat of his cause. Among the great missionaries, Augustine of Canterbury, was not forgotten at the time of the settlement of Virginia. We find that since the removal of the supposed relics of the Wise Men of the East to Cologne Cathedral their traditional names, Caspar, Melchior, and Balthasar, have been frequently bestowed in Germany, Holland, and Sweden. These names, which do not appear in the New Testament, and differ slightly from what are in some early authors, are suitably Oriental: Caspar, or Jasper, looks like Persian, Melchi is Hebrew, and Balthasar contains the Babylonian Baal, or Bel, and sar is a Babylonian word or syllable. We are familiar with Caspar in families of German origin. In Holland surnames were not generally adopted very early, and the given name of an ancestor was often used, as in Wales. Admiral Penn’s father-in-law came from Rotterdam to Ireland calling himself John Jasper, indica¬ ting that a near ancestor was christened Jasper. Of the few 234 Given Names Formerly in Common Use. tracts of 5000 acres purchased from William Penn, one was bought by Major Jasper Farmer of Ireland and his son Jasper Farmer, Junr., and the greater part of Whitemarsh Township, Montgomery County, was allotted to them as location of their land. That Jasper was not forgotten in England, or perhaps Scotland, is further instanced in Jasper Yeates, an early emi¬ grant, ancestor of so many Pennsylvanians. The supposed King Melchior is recalled to Pennsylvanians by the middle name of the German-born Lutheran preacher Heinrich Melchior Muhlenberg. As for Balthasar, there was a Balthazaer Bayard and a Baltelasaer perhaps a misprint Stuyvesant in New York about 1670. Connected with the city of Cologne is the story of Ursula said to have been martyred with eleven thou¬ sand virgins by Attila. Perhaps the statement that she was a Breton maiden on her way to marry a British husband helped to make her name quite common in England before the settle¬ ment of America. With the revival of interest in literature which had nothing to do with holiness, and a lessening of the enthusiasm for the saints, there came, along with an increased use in England of Teutonic derivatives, a fancy for the great names of antiquity. Helen of Troy became probably more often thought of when that name or one of its variations, Ellen, Eleanor, etc., was given to a girl than St. Helena, the Empress, mother of Con¬ stantine. Hercules had at least one person named after him in Scotland in the XVIIth Century, and a Scotchman on the Dela¬ ware shortly afterwards called a daughter Herculea, while an¬ other called a son iEneas; but I do not know that descendants or friends followed either example. A conspicuous instance of the name of great Romans being given in this vicinity, came about in the following way. An Italian woman, whose maiden surname was Cesarini, perhaps derived from a locality, married one Adelmare, and had a son baptized Csesar, who moved to England, and there served as court physician. He in turn put Csesar in the name of his sons, one of whom he caused to be baptized Julius Csesar. The latter became a judge, was knighted, and died in 1630. The judge and his descendants dropped the name Adelmare. One of them, who, according to Sanderson’s Lives of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, — — Given Names Formerly in Common Use. 235 was Sir Thomas Csesar, a London merchant, had a daughter who married William Rodeney, a settler and official in Penn’s dominions. From her descended Csesar Rodney, the Signer, and his nephew Caisar Augustus Rodney. When, after the Reformation, the Old Testament became familiar to the people, particularly in England, the names of the patriarchs and prophets were given to children, and, al¬ though now such are probably given only because borne by some respected relative, the finding of two or more Isaacs, Isaiahs, or Benjamins, among persons of what was a rather common surname two or three centuries ago, is no proof of re¬ lationship, but it is different where the Biblical character whose name was taken is an inconspicuous one. I would not expect two disconnected couples to call a son Shadraeh or Sheshbazzar. Yet the fancy for Biblical names lingers, and we have heard the joke that an old woman, thinking that she had found one for a dog, called him “Moreover,” on the strength of the verse “Moreover the dogs came.” The religious of Oliver Crom¬ well’s day were not satisfied with the naming of a person after a holy man; perhaps they thought it a vestige of the invocation of saints, so they used pious exhortations or whole sentences. One Barebon or Barebones, member of Parliament, was called, perhaps at baptism, “Praise God.” It has been said, although the Dictionary of National Biography discredits it, that he had a brother called “ If-Christ-had-not-died-thoubad’st-been-damned Barebones.” His enemies nicknamed him “ Damned Barebones.” It is certainly true that men were called “Stand fast on High, M << Fight the good fight of Faith,” etc. Names unknown in England until after the Restoration have never been common in what were originally the Thirteen Colo¬ nies. The settlement of English-speaking America, while its period extends well into the reign of the House of Hanover, was really a transplanting of the ideas, customs, and language in vogue in the previous century. The men who went to Vir¬ ginia took thither the names common between the Reformation and the spread of Puritanism; those who went to New England and also the Hollanders and others who went to New York brought over the names of Old Testament worthies with a 236 Given Names Formerly in Common JJse. sprinkling of the names popular in France and Germany; and the Welsh and English Quakers, the earliest of whom had been baptized in infancy, did not transmit any peculiar style of names. Unlike certain prelates and monks and nuns, the Friends did not take names in religion, but probably held out against the fashion of “the world’s people” for what were heathenish or fanciful. Quaker women have been mostly called Hannah, Susan, Rachel, and Martha, when not Mary or Eliza¬ beth. Among Marylanders, nearly every family has a Henri¬ etta Maria, originally in compliment to King Charles I’s wife, whence the Province itself got its name of Maryland. The name Peregrine, of which there were several instances in Penn¬ sylvania, as there had been among the upper classes of Eng¬ land, has survived in Maryland. Among Virginians, it has been very usual to call a girl Virginia, as their region was named after the unmarried status of Queen Elizabeth. Often found in families of the Old Dominion and little outside have been Lucy and Mildred. Now, ladies and gentlemen, as good Americans think over the first names of the Presidents of the United States, and see how far they illustrate what I have been saying. Do not forget the Stephen before Grover and the Thomas before Woodrow. Eighteen out of the twenty-eight have had one-word given names. In these, or the first word of compound ones, thirteen recall saints to us, viz : five Jameses, two Johns, two Thomases, two Andrews, one Stephen, one George, one Martin recalling the Bishop of Tours, Apostle of France, and one Theodore, there having been a number of Theodores among the saints. There have been three Old Testament names: Zachary, Abra¬ ham, and Benjamin. One name from Greek history, Ulysses, and the ordinary worldly name of William, borne by three Presidents, and the surnames used as given names or as the first word of given names, complete the list. I leave you with the thought of Warren, evidently derived from the German mediae¬ val name of Warin, a guardian or protector.