As to the girls, they generally have no name of their own up to the age of puberty.”(1216) Among the Tepehuanes of Mexico a name is a sacred thing, and they never tell their real native names.(1217) (M199) In North America superstitions of the same sort are current. “Names bestowed with ceremony in childhood,” says Schoolcraft, “are deemed sacred, and are seldom pronounced, out of respect, it would seem, to the spirits under whose favour they are supposed to have been selected. Children are usually called in the family by some name which can be familiarly used.”(1218) The Navajoes of New Mexico are most unwilling to reveal their own Indian names or those of their friends; they generally go by some Mexican names which they have received from the whites.(1219) “No Apache will give his name to a stranger, fearing some hidden power may thus be placed in the stranger’s hand to his detriment.”(1220) The Tonkawe Indians of Texas will give their children Comanche and English names in addition to their native names, which they are unwilling to communicate to others; for they believe that when somebody calls a person by his or her native name after death the spirit of the deceased may hear it, and may be prompted to take revenge on such as disturbed his rest; whereas if the spirit be called by a name drawn from another language, it will pay no heed.(1221) Speaking of the Californian Indians, and especially of the Nishinam tribe, a well-informed writer observes: “One can very seldom learn an Indian’s and never a squaw’s Indian name, though they will tell their American titles readily enough.... No squaw will reveal her own name, but she will tell all her neighbors’ that she can think of. For the reason above given many people believe that half the squaws have no names at all. So far is this from the truth that every one possesses at least one and sometimes two or three.”(1222) Blackfoot Indians believe that they would be unfortunate in all their undertakings if they were to speak their names.(1223) When the Canadian Indians were asked their names, they used to hang their heads in silence or answer that they did not know.(1224) When an Ojebway is asked his name, he will look at some bystander and ask him to answer. “This reluctance arises from an impression they receive when young, that if they repeat their own names it will prevent their growth, and they will be small in stature. On account of this unwillingness to tell their names, many strangers have fancied that they either have no names or have forgotten them.”(1225)