White people do not usually take kindly to the jaw-breaking Indian
names, hence a “Boston” name has generally been given them. But the
white men who lived around Skokomish were mostly loggers, who among
themselves went by the name of Tom, Jack, Jim, and the like, and seldom
put Mr. to any body’s name. As the Indians mingled with them they
received similar names, and as there soon came to be several of the same
name, they were distinguished by some prefix, usually derived from some
characteristic--their size, or the place from which they came. So we had
Squaxon Bill, Chehalis Jack, Dr. Bob, Big John, Little Billy, and the
like. These were bad enough, but when their children came to take these
as their surnames, they sometimes became comical, for we had Sally Bob,
Dick Charley, and Sam Pete. Therefore, we soon found that it was best to
give every school-child a decent name, and Bill’s son George became
George Williams, and John’s boy became Henry Johnson, and Billy’s
daughter was Minnie Williamson, and so on. At first, when the older ones
were married, it was done with the old Indian nickname, but I soon
thought that if in time they were to become Americans they might as well
have decent names. So, at their first legal recognition, as at their
marriage, baptism, or on entering school, they received names of which
they had no need to be ashamed in after years.