On the bestowing of the name Potter’s information is particularly full. He is probably right, too, in his conjecture, that in most countries the principal object of calling together so great a number of friends to witness this ceremony was to prevent such controversies as might arise when the child came out into the business of the world. But at Athens the Act of Registration[395] rendered such witnesses scarcely necessary. The right of imposing the name belonged, as hinted above, to the father, who likewise appears to have possessed the power afterwards to alter it if he thought proper. They were compelled to follow no exact precedent; but the general rule resembled one apparently observed by nature, which, neglecting the likeness in the first generation, sometimes reproduces it with extraordinary fidelity in the second. Thus, the grandson inheriting often the features, inherited also very generally the name of his grandfather,[396] and precisely the same rule applied to women; the granddaughter nearly always receiving her grandmother’s name.[397] Thus, Andocides, son of Leagoras, bore the name of his grandfather; the father and son of Miltiades were named Cimon; the father and son of Hipponicos, Cleinias.[398] The orator Lysias formed an exception to this rule, his grandfather’s name having been Lysanias.[399] In short, though there existed no law upon the subject, yet ancient and nearly invariable custom operated with the force of law.[400] Footnote 395: Harpocrat. v. Μεῖον, Poll. iii. 53. Schol. ad Aristoph. Ran. 810. Etym. Mag. 533. 37. Meurs. Lect. Att. iii. 1. Footnote 396: Palmer, Exercit. p. 754. Sluiter. Lect. Andocid. c. i. Footnote 397: Isæus de Pyrrh. Hæred. § 5. Footnote 398: Aristoph. Av. 284. Footnote 399: Plat. Rep. l. i. t. vi. p. 9. Footnote 400: Dem. c. Macart. § 17. Taylor, Lect. Lysiac. c. 5.