CHOOSING NAMES 



families should choose distinctive surnames. And I 

 can imagine, too, that the business of choosing 

 caused a lot of deep cogitation in those Eskimo 

 minds, and a lot of scratching of heads and rumpling 

 of hair. Some men solved the difficulty by doubling 

 their Christian names, like Laban Labane, and 

 Josef Josefe ; others chose Eskimo words, such as 

 Sillit (a grindstone), which is the surname of our 

 Okak organist, and Kakkarsuk (a little mountain), 

 or Ikkiatsiak (a shirt). Some adopted the name of 

 their occupation, like Illiniartitsijok (the school 

 teacher) and Igloliorte (the house builder) the 

 latter being a man's polite way of referring to his 

 work as village coffin-maker. 



Others went further afield in their search. One 

 happy-faced fellow invented a new word ; he called 

 himself Atsertatak, " because," he said, " that is like 

 the noise that the little birds make, and we are as 

 happy as a family of little birds." 



Some chose ordinary English names which they 

 had heard among the schooner folk, and spelt them 

 in extraordinary Eskimo ways, like Braun and Grin ; 

 and others honoured the missionaries by adopting 

 their names. One of the most dignified families in 

 Hebron goes by the name of " Mess " ; and I can only 

 think that here the man chose what he thought an 

 absolutely unique and unhackneyed Eskimo surname 

 from the lettering on the top of a barrel of Prime 

 Mess Pork standing in the passage of the Mission 

 house. 



So the Eskimos got their surnames, and are 

 handing them down from the last generation to this. 



The Eskimo mother is not a stay-abed person; 



she is quite ready to bring her baby to church for 



88 



