What's in a Name, Part II

Gee, don't get me started on "" I'll never finish posting.

I certainly believe that names affect their bearers. I see it, and I have seen evidence of that fact for generations.

For starters, my wife and I have a grandson whose middle name is Kaumealaniikanu'uhanohano. (He, like his uncle who bore the same name, seems to be living up to the handle! More on that later...)

My father's great-grandfather was Abraham Harrison Leathers. (And everything that flowed from his life seemed wholesome and solid and.... well..... solid. He was solid.)

My mother had a great-grandfather from Washington-Wilkes named Marcus Aurelius Pharr. (The townspeople always said, "He knew his Latin.")

I don't really know much about one of my favorite family names.... favorite because it was so awful. A 19th-century kinsman in Savannah was named Gazaway Bugg Lamar. Not so very bad, BUT before her marriage, his mother had been Obedience Dutiful Bugg! (Now, honestly.... have you ever?)

Speaking of Cud'n Gazaway, I would need a whole website to deal with the Lamar family names -- Zachariah Lamar. Mirabeau Buonoparte Lamar (2nd president of the Republic of Texas). L. Q. C. Lamar--that is, Lucius Quintus Cincinnatus Lamar of Columbus, Ga., and Mississippi (the lawyer, judge and educator) AND L. Q. C. Lamar "the younger," yes, "the younger," a justice of the U. S. Supreme Court. (More on him and other Lamars later....)

Let's see (oh, my spinning head!)..... over a hundred years ago in Athens, my grandfather's Cousin Nellie married a local Phinizy. In the 1950s, this couple's grandson brought his University "co-ed" date to see his aged grandmother. The date was from Columbus, Mississippi.

On the way up to the house, the young man apologized, "I have to tell you," he said. "My grandmother has a real funny name. She's Mrs. Billups Phinizy." His date looked startled enough. "You're kidding," she said. No, he wasn't! The date continued, "That is really amazing. Because MY grandmother is Mrs. Phinizy Billups!" (How about that one!?!)

There's another side to naming, too. My great-uncle, Will Erwin, married a wonderful Yankee woman. This couple had two children. They were named George Erwin and Alice Erwin.

When I was in college, maybe, I asked my aunt, "What is George's full name?" Aunt Harriet said, "George Erwin." "Oh," I responded weakly, "and Alice's?" "Her name is Alice Erwin," came my answer. I pushed for more, with, "But what are their middle names, Aunt Harriet?"

Now, my aunt was a kind person.... and what they used to call "handsome." (In my mind's eye, I can easily mix her up with Ethel Barrymore -- that kind of "handsome," beautiful, really, to me.) But the lady seemed to turn on me a bit and snapped, but not in a mean way at all, and stated, "My children are George Erwin and Alice Erwin! I just got tired of all those Erwin middle names. So I named them George Erwin and Alice Erwin." (End of scene.) Yikes!

I wonder what my fine Aunt Harriet would say about Kaumealaniikanu'uhanohano? If I meet her in heaven -- or someplace -- I expect she'll let me know.    [More to follow at some later date.......]