Jim Kershner's column, 100 Years Ago Today, for 24 March 2021, was all about names...names in Spokane. He wrote:
"Spokane's 1921 Polk's City Directory ---- the era's version of a phone book --- had over 7000 more names than the 1920 directory, indicating that the city was growing.
Other factoids: the most common name in Spokane was Johnson (627 entries), followed by Smith, Anderson and Brown."
While I certainly did not access that 1921 directory myself, I'd bet that except for a sprinkling of "foreign" names, they were mostly white-European.
I personally think it's good and right that we're seeing names of ethic origins that too many of us have never heard of. Case in point: Tesfamariam Obgit Nehab's obituary appeared in our paper on 29 April 2021. This dear man had been born in Eritrea. His wife and four children survive him here in Spokane, all with distinctly Eritrean names.
I welcome that family and am sorry for the loss of their father and am glad that this family chose Spokane for their new home.
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