When the Israelites gave names to their children or others, they chose such appellatives as suited best with their circumstances, and the times. This custom was as early as the Patriarchal age; for we find Abram was changed into Abraham; Sarai into Sarah, Jacob into Israel;—and afterwards Oshea, Joshua, Solomon, Jedidiah, &c. &c. This custom is a standing rule with the Indians, and I never observed the least deviation from it. They give their children names, expressive of their tempers, outward appearances, and other various circumstances; a male child, they will call _Choola_, “the fox;” and a female, _Pakahle_, “the blossom, or flower.” The father and mother of the former are called _Choollingge_, and _Choollishke_, “the father and mother of the fox;” in like manner, those of the latter, _Pakahlingge_, and _Pakahlishke_; for _Ingge_ signifies the father, and _Ishke_ the mother. In private life they are so termed till that child dies; but after that period they are called by the name of their next surviving child, or if they have none, by their own name: and it is not known they ever mention the name of the child that is extinct. They only faintly allude to it, saying, “the one that is dead,” to prevent new grief, as they had before mourned the appointed time. They who have no children of their own, adopt others, and assume their names, in the manner already mentioned. This was of divine appointment, to comfort the barren, and was analogous to the kindred method of counting with the Hebrews: instead of surnames, they used in their genealogies the name of the father, and prefixed _Ben_, “a son,” to the person’s name. And thus the Greeks, in early times. No nation used surnames, except the Romans after their league and union with the Sabines. And they did not introduce that custom, with the least view of distinguishing their families, but as a politic seal to their strong compact of friendship; for as the Romans prefixed Sabine names to their own, the Sabines took Roman names in like manner. A specimen of the Indian war-names, will illustrate this argument with more clearness. {191} They crown a warrior, who has killed a distinguished enemy, with the name, _Yanasabe_, “the buffalo-killer;” _Yanasa_ is a buffalo, compounded of _Yah_, the divine essence, and _Asa_, “there, or here is,” as formerly mentioned: and _Abe_ is their constant war-period, signifying, by their rhetorical figure “one who kills another.” It signifies also to murder a person, or beat him severely. This proper name signifies, the prosperous killer, or destroyer of the buffalo, or strong man—it cannot possibly be derived from אבה, _Abeh_, which signifies good-will, brotherly love, or tender affection; but from אבל, _Abele_, grief, sorrow, or mourning, as an effect of that hostile act.