Sign of the Goat

The petitioner, a plump and solemn Negro, wanted to change his name. Peaceful Heart, he felt, was a much more suitable name for a follower of Father Divine than plain old Henry Green. Judge Curtis Bok, who heard the case in Philadelphia's Court of Common Pleas, was sympathetic.

Peaceful Heart might not be such a ridiculous name. Said the judge: "The Puritan mind . . . felt the need to name many girl babies Patience, Prudence, Peace, Faith, Hope, Charity, Tolerance, Preserved and even Chastity. Many names from abroad escape notice only because they must be translated. Thus, we have Semtana, Neugeboren, Trissotin and Malatesta, which, in their respective languages, refer to Messrs. Sour Cream, Newly Born, Three Times Silly and Headache.

"Not to hide behind translations, many English names stand on their own feet, and seem curious if regarded as simple words and not as names. A short list should not omit Youngflesh, Thickpenny, Twelve-trees, Clinkscales, Kiswetter, Diddlebock, Ramsbottom and Pigwhistle. Nor should we overlook the family who rounded out an even dozen children with Corona, but when the 13th unexpectedly appeared, he was resolutely named Ultimus Agiter. There is also the familiar but distressing case of Franklin D. Stink, who petitioned the court to be known thereafter as Harry Stink."

In reaching his decision, the learned judge considered his own name, one of Philadelphia's most distinguished.*"Not even this court should escape attention," he observed. "The writer of this opinion struggles along with the name that reduces etymologically to Polite Goat." With that, Polite Goat legalized the name of Peaceful Heart, establishing a precedent which another Philadelphia court followed when it changed the name of Miss Blonchile Dawkins to Sweete Love.

*His grandfather was Publisher Cyrus H. K. Curtis; his father was Edward Bok, the writer and editor.

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