Philadelphia.
_Reversible Names_ (Vol. viii., p. 244.).--Emme might have been added to
your correspondent's list, a female name which, when first known in
England, was spelt as above written, and not Emma, as at the present time.
In an old book I have seen the name and its meaning thus recorded,--in
English, _Emme_; in French, _Emme, bonne nourrice_.
I must beg to differ in opinion from your correspondent, even with his
epicene restriction, who states "that _varium et mutabile semper femina_
only means that whatever reads backwards and forwards, the same is _always
feminine_."
If M. will take the trouble to look in Boyle's _Court Guide_ for 1845, p.
358., he will find the name of a late very distinguished general officer,
Sir Burges Camac. A wealthy branch of this family is now established in the
United States, and one of its members bears the name of Camac Camac.
I am unable to give M. another instance, and doubt if one can be easily
found where the Christian and surnames of a gentleman are alike, and both
reversible.