History of Names

 

Hayter for January 27, 2024

‘History of names”

            I once asked Mom who she named me after. She said, “Nobody. I just liked the name, Mark.” Before I started writing this piece, I looked up my name on a list of boy names for 1949. “Mark” was rated 24^th out of 1000. Right after “Jerry”.  I’ve never met a Jerry I didn’t like. But I never liked the name “Jerry”.

 When I asked Mom where she got my middle name, she said it was my Uncle Bud’s middle name. Bud Scott Teegarden? At the time, my uncle had to be the only Bud Scott on the planet.

Before you got here, I researched the Teegarden family tree that Kay compiled and discovered that Elsie had no older brother named Bud. His name appeared as “Leodis”. Leodis! It’s a Celtic name that translates as “From the land of Leod”. Back before WWI, someone in Bristow, Oklahoma was given the name “Celt from Leod”. Mom said they never called her brother Leodis. He was always Bud.

Here's where it turns mysterious. Leodis's middle name was the initial, “L”. There is no way on God’s green earth that you can get the word “Scott” out of an L. Begs the question, where did Mom get the name Scott?! She can’t tell me now. And even if she was here, I wouldn’t trust her.

            Noticing my despair, Kay took it upon herself to see if there was a Teegarden named “Scott” on the Family Tree. There were two. My great, great, great grandfather was named Windfield Scott Teegarden as was his father. I don’t know if Mom knew this when she named me, but I’m saying she did. She just forgot. The woman had four boys and three girls to name, so I decided to cut her some slack.

            My dad didn’t name any of his children. He was an only child who had to carry the name “Faris” with him for 62 years. There’s no telling what he would’ve done had he been the one to name his children. Regardless, I don’t use my middle name unless it’s required of me or I’m writing an article about names.

            Right now, I choose to skip the history of my family names and go right to names given to some famous Native Americans. Let’s start with Chief Sitting Bull of the Lakota Tribe. How did his parents, after looking at their newborn child, come up with the name of a bison, an animal that may lay down but never sits?

            It just so happens, that at birth Sitting Bull was given the name “Slon-ha” or “Slow”.  I can only assume that, at birth, it took him a long time to show himself. Later in life, Slow’s father was named Jumping Bull. Native Americans weren’t good at keeping records of where their names came from.

It turns out that at the age of 10, “Slow” showed himself to be quite the hunter, earning him the name “Jumping Badger”. I couldn’t find the connection, but I’m not arguing with anyone from the Lakota Tribe. When the Badger boy was 14, he displayed great horsemanship and distinguished himself at a battle against a tribe of Crow. After that he was given the name “Tatanka-Iyotanka” translated “Sitting Bull.”

            What we can gather from that is Native American children were given a less-than-fascinating name at birth. If they never accomplished themselves in life, they would keep their birth-name till death. Had Sitting Bull not been such a learned and accomplished child he would have died “Slow”.  

            Crazy Horse had it nearly as bad. At birth, he had lighter skin and hair than anyone else in the tribe. His light hair came out curly, so that’s what he was named. “Curly Hair”. Fortunately, at the age of 18, Curly showed himself to be exceptionally brave in a battle. After battling against the Arapaho, he was such a great warrior, that he was given his father’s name  -- “Crazy Horse”. Curly’s Dad must have become less warrior-like over the years because he was renamed “Waglúla” which translates as “Worm”.

            While I feel sorry that his original name was “Curly Hair” I hate that he got a great name change while his father got humiliated. I’ll have to research that when I get time. Let’s face it, Crazy Horse is so much better sounding than Curly Horse. I can just hear the 7^th Calvary chanting “Bring on Curly Horse!” He would’ve never made it to the Little Big Horn with a name like that.  

            One more. Let’s go with “Dances with Wolves”.  That was what the Sioux called Kevin Costner’s character after noticing him dancing with a wolf. The Lakota tribe from South Dakota was more practical with names. Costner’s translator, played by Mary McDonnell was given the name “Stands with a fist” after knocking out a warrior’s wife for constantly picking on her. That gives reason for her name.

            Not in this age and time. We come up with names that sound good. They’re based on nothing but the sound of the word. “I named you ‘Mark’ because I liked the sound of it.” 

            I’m beginning to wish I had written a thesis on “The History of Names”. Civilizations since the time of man have come up with names that in some way identify something about the person. What say each of us come up with a new name for ourselves that in some way says something about us? Remember, the name “Batman” is taken.

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