Each Indian was supposed to keep hi

Each Indian was supposed to keep his birth name until he was old enough to earn one for himself. But his playmates would always give him a name of their own. No matter what his parents called him, his childhood friends would use the name they had chosen. Often it was not pleasing, such as Fat Legs or Bad Boy. Sometimes a name fit so well that the youngster found it difficult to shake it off. If he could not earn a better one from a war later, he could be stuck with a name like Fat Legs for the rest of his life.The Indian earned his real name when he was old enough for his first fight against an enemy. His life name depended on how he acted during this first battle. When he returned from the war, the whole tribe would gather and observe the ceremony in which he would be given his name by the chief. If he had done well, he would get a good name. Otherwise he might be called Crazy Wolf or Man-Afraid-of-a-Horse. So an Indian’s name told his record or described the kind of man he was.A man was given many chances to improve his name, however. If in a later battle he was brave in fighting against the enemy, he was given a better name. Some of our great fighters had as many as twelve names—all good and each better than the last.An Indian’s names belonged to him for the rest of his life. No one else could use them. Even he himself could not give them away because names were assigned by the tribe, not the family. So no man could pass on his name unless the chief and the tribe asked him to do so.Sometimes an Indian would be asked to give his name to a son who had performed a noticeable deed. I know of only three or four times when this happened. It is the rarest honor for a person—the honor of assuming his father’s name.