Kabotchnik May Be Cabot, Judge is “constrained” to Rule

The flag of liberty and freedom waved more lustily than in a long time today, following the decision by Judge Audenrie here that anyone who so desires may drop any inconvenient chunk from off his name. The question arose with the application of Harry H. and Myrtle Kabotchnik to change their name to Cabot. Descendants of the famous New England family of Cabots objected and protested to the court, that such a change meant the unjust appropriation of the glory of John Cabot. His name, they contended, like that of a famous biscuit or shoe-polish, represented actual value and no one else had any right to it. The Cabots’ objections were fortified by those of the Pennsylvania Historical Society and the Genealogical Society.

The judge declared that he “was constrained to grant the petitioners the right to the use of the name of Cabot, as there is nothing in the law to prevent it.”