WHAT'S IN A NAME?

People's names often make me laugh. In the newspapers I don't read the funnies but I do read the obituaries because I find such interesting things there and such funny names.

The other day I read an obituary for a lady whose name was shown as Sweet P. Smith. In reading the obit I saw her middle name was Pecolia, but obviously she went by Sweet P. Can you imagine going through your whole life being called Sweet P? I call all little girl children - and sometimes my own grown daughters - "Sweet Pea." But as a given name, I'm glad it wasn't mine, because I'd consider it an affliction!

Also I noted there was a lady listed whose last name was Crapsey. Now that is not a very pretty last name. I'd probably think twice before marrying a man by that name, or if the fellow really was a "keeper" I'd choose to keep my maiden name

In doing some genealogy the other night, I was researching a family of Cowens who were southerners, and in the manner of southerners they called all their male children by initials. There was C.W., the father, and sons O.L., D.D., J.L, and W.D. Later I had come upon a paper showing that W. D. actually went by the name W. Dee Cowen. I learned they were all from Tennessee so in doing a census search, I found that the O stood for Oswald, the D for Douglas, the J for Jack and the W for Wolsey. Then, to top the whole thing off, I discovered that the father's given name was CARDINAL WOOLSEY COWAN, which accounts for the C.W! Now how's that for a name!

In my own family I've got George Washington Ryland and Francis Marion Ryland, and Lorenzo Dow Brower -- but you'd really have to stretch back in time to come up with Cardinal Woolsey for a first and middle name.

The cleverest group of names I can remember came from my college years. In 1954 there were three pledges to one of the fraternities on our college campus: The first fellow's name was Harry Schmoll. The second fellow was Glen Dill and the last was Mel Pic'l. Now all those names could be considered fairly ordinary but put those last names together and what do you have?

A Schmoll Dill Pic'l!

Hahahahahahah!