A Rose By Any Other Name

Mothers and fathers spend months weighing the choice of their baby’s name. Should we name it after some relative we love or go for something melodious, different and unique to our baby? Towns evidently go through the same process as we see in the petition before North Wildwood Council right now.
A name for a person or a town should be given at the beginning of life’s journey, by founding fathers who might have settled on a beautiful mountain with a view. Hence they might have called it Mountain View, or Lakeside Village, or White Sands.
In the case of our 5 Mile Island, it seems that “fathers” were not very creative because all of the towns ended up with the same variation of Wildwood, whether West or North or Crest. Of course, there is the little dribble of land on the south end of the island which, by some geographic gerrymandering, belongs to Lower Township.
Living in a county with a lovely name like Cape May, one wonders how we could have unimaginative divisions as Lower, Middle, and Upper – why not: Whaleship Port, Hands Outpost over Village of Leaming? The one exception to this prosaic nomenclature was the little town on the north end of the island, which called itself Anglesea. How charming and now some residents want to go back to their roots and shuck the name of North Wildwood. They can imagine a life of quaint cottages, fishing off of rocky shoals, and maybe even a lighthouse to bring the boats home to safety in a perilous storm.
Sounds nice, doesn’t it?
A name is a very emotional thing and sometimes the people who carry it go to a judge and legally become known by a name that fits them better. I know several people who disliked their names so much they did just that. It was not to disrespect the people who named them, but to have a name which suited a more modern time.  Who knows what will happen with the petition in North Wildwood, but a rose by any other name will smell as sweet.
Patricia Hall 
From Art Hall, Publisher
I wrote a column on the petition to change the name of North Wildwood to Anglesea and asked my wife to give it a read. She did not like my opus and handed me her own (above). So, I scrapped mine and ran hers. But I do want to share with you a sampling of the edited comments to our article on the name change which we received via Facebook , our website, and Spout Off. We received a little over 60 comments, and they were generally split evenly, pro and con. 
If you have an opinion on this or any other topic, send us a letter to the editor, a comment, or a Spout Off.
Stacey Grabowski Phinney  — Yes, then it won’t be associated with the drug scene in Wildwood. A lot of people from out of town don’t know the difference between North Wildwood and Wildwood; they all assume it’s the same.
Bill Dobbins —  I like the name change;  can we get our own zip code
Don Miller — Can’t say that I blame them. I wouldn’t want to be mistaken for part of Wildwood either.
Kevin McCabe —  I would. Who wants to share the same name as (problem-plagued) Wildwood?
Jean Wilson — Why not. Let’s spend thousands wasting money for a name change. Paperwork.  Maps. Web sites, buildings signs, etc. Changing the signs on the parkway to A to B was the biggest waste of taxpayers’ money I’ve seen. So just keep spending the taxpayers’ money like we are your personnel ATM machine. Or how about just do your job and save money if you can.
Bonnie Bates Deems  — yes….I still call it Anglesea.
Wildwood Crest – Of course, North Wildwood wants to distinguish itself from Wildwood. The Crest and North Wildwood attract a totally different type of visitor and work very hard to do so. The leaders in Wildwood are too shortsighted to see how their actions bring the entire island down. As far as tourism, Cape Cod is made up of 15 different towns and makes it work. Wake up Wildwood, your neighbors do not want to be seen as part of you.
North Wildwood – Can anyone really blame some North Wildwood residents for wanting to change its name to Anglesea? The reality of it all is, Wildwood is associated with dirty politics, hiring of friends and family, political payback for those who make issue of controversial events and activities, drugs, and a haven for minorities receiving state benefits and housing. North Wildwood has class, a firm set of rules which to live by, and dedicated individuals who truly care about service.