It may seem almost flippant to suggest that this old mystery of Totemism arises only from group names given from without, some of them, perhaps, derisive. But I am able to demonstrate that, in North America, the names of what some American authorities call _gentes_ (meaning old totem groups, which now reckon descent through the male, not the female line), actually _are_ nicknames--in certain cases derisive. Moreover, I am able to prove that, when the names of these American gentes are not merely totem names, they answer, with literal precision, to our folk-lore village _sobriquets_, even when these are not names of plants or animals. The late Rev. James Owen Dorsey left, at his death, a paper on _The Siouan Sociology_.[48] Among the _gentes_ (old totem kindreds with male descent) he noted, the _gentes_ of a tribe, ‘The Mysterious Lake Tribe.’ There were, in 1880, seven _gentes_. Three names were derived from localities. One name meant ‘Breakers of (exogamous) Law.’ One was ‘Not encumbered with much baggage.’ One was Rogues (‘Bad Nation’). These three last names are derisive nicknames. The seventh name was ‘Eats no Geese,’ obviously a totemic survival. Of the Wahpeton tribe all the seven _gentes_ derived their names from localities. Of the Sisseton tribe, the twelve names of _gentes_ were either nicknames (one, ‘a name of derision’), or derived from localities. Of the Yankton _gentes_, five names out of seven were nicknames, mostly derisive, the sixth was ‘Bad Nation’ (‘Rogues’), the seventh was a totem name, ‘Wild Cat.’ Of the Hunpatina (seven _gentes_), three names were totemic (Drifting Goose, Dogs, Eat no Buffalo Cows); the others were nicknames, such as ‘Eat the Scrapings of Hides.’ Of the Sitcanxu, there were thirteen gentes. Six or seven of their titles were nicknames, three were totemic, the others were dubious, such as ‘Smellers of Fish.’ The Itaziptec had seven gentes; of their names all were nicknames, including ‘Eat dried venison from the hind quarter.’ Of the Minikooju, there were nine _gentes_. Eight names were nicknames, including ‘Dung Eaters.’ One seems totemic, ‘Eat no Dogs.’ Of five Asineboin gentes the names were nicknames from the habits or localities of the communities. One was ‘Girl’s Band,’ that is, ‘Girls.’ Now compare parish _sobriquets_ in Western England.[49] In this list of parish or village nicknames, twenty-one are derived from plants and animals, like most totemic names. We also find ‘Dog Eaters,’ ‘Bread Eaters,’ ‘Burd Eaters,’ ‘Whitpot Eaters,’ and, answering to ‘Girl’s Band’ (_Gens des Filles_), ‘Pretty Maidens:’ answering to ‘Bad Nation,’ ‘Rogues’: answering to ‘Eaters of Hide Scrapings’ ‘Bone Pickers’: while there are, as among the Siouans, names derived from various practices attributed to the English villagers, as to the Red Indian _gentes_.