Native American Names
Taking an Indian Name in Camp
In view of the significance of Indian personal names, and the
dignity and reverence which in every instance surrounded the
giving or the taking of a name, it hardly seems appropriate that
Indian names should be assumed even for a short period without
some regard being shown to the customs and thought of the people
from whom the names are borrowed. While there should be no travesty
of rites such as those that have been here described, rites that
have been held sacred upon this continent for untold generations,
still it would not be unseemly to hold to the spirit of those
rites when we borrow these names during the camp days in which
we seek to live close to the nature that the Indian loved so
reverently and well.
When it is decided among the members of the camp to take an
Indian name, on the day of the ceremony all the camp should assemble
early in the morning. When all have gathered, they should move
toward a place where the sun can be seen when it rises over the
lake, the hilltops or the woods. There all should pause.
The candidate for the name should not wear any head-band. The
boy or girl should stand well to the front of the group, all
of whom should face the East. The entire company should then
join in the following song:
Song No. 1
Skies proclaim a new day! We joyfully meet,
We thankfully greet,
His[A] new name this day shall repeat.
The Leader of the camp must then intone the following:
Hear! O Trees that gird our camp!
Listen, ye Birds that fly through the branches!
Harken, ye rippling waves on Stream and Lake!
Into your midst has come a friend,
He[A] bears a new Name!
Ye shall know him as ——(name)
[Footnote A: The pronoun should be changed according to the
sex of the candidate.]
The announcement of the name should be distinctly made so as
to be clearly heard by the entire company. The head-band or other
camp insignia should now be officially put on the candidate.
All present should then join in singing the following song,
clapping their hands as beats to the music as they skip back
to breakfast and to the pleasures of the day:
Song No. 2
Homeward we go, calling his[B] name;
New is the name now we proclaim;
No other change in our friend, he[B] is the same!
[Footnote B: Change the pronoun to the proper sex.]
Singing we go, way ha way
Dancing also, way ha way ho!
No one more merry than we, way ha way ho!
The second stanza should be repeated and the steps kept in rhythm
until the dancers finally disperse.