Yesterday’s post told the story behind Kenesaw Mountain Landis‘ unique name. But there’s even more to the story…
In 1895, Kenesaw Landis returned to Chicago and founded a law firm with two other lawyers
A decade later, President Theodore Roosevelt appointed him a U.S. District Judge for Northern Illinois.
His “involvement in [various] high profile cases, combined with his flair for theatrics, brought his decisions and behavior to national attention. After Standard Oil [in 1907], Landis was dubbed the “most talked of persona in America.”
So he was already a well-known public figure by the time he became the first commissioner of professional baseball in late 1920 (which was not long after news of the Black Sox scandal broke).
Why am I getting into all this detail about Kenesaw Landis?
Because, once he became relatively famous, he began acquiring namesakes of his own!
The name Landis, for instance, debuted in the baby data in 1907 and nearly doubled in usage in 1920:
- 1922: 17 baby boys named Landis
- 1921: 18 baby boys named Landis
- 1920: 23 baby boys named Landis
- 1919: 12 baby boys named Landis
- 1918: 13 baby boys named Landis
- 1917: 14 baby boys named Landis
- 1916: 17 baby boys named Landis
- 1915: 13 baby boys named Landis
- 1914: 7 baby boys named Landis
- 1913: 7 baby boys named Landis
- 1912: 6 baby boys named Landis
- 1911: unlisted
- 1910: 5 baby boys named Landis
- 1909: unlisted
- 1908: unlisted
- 1907: 6 baby boys named Landis [debut]
- 1906: unlisted
- 1905: unlisted
The German surname Landis was derived from the Middle High German word landoese, “landless,” which was originally a “nickname for a highwayman or for someone who lays waste to the land.”
Even more interesting, though, are the dozens of boys who got other permutations of his name, such as…
- Landis Kenesaw Carnes, b. 1907
- Kenesaw T. Boyd, b. 1907
- Walter Kenesaw Immler, b. 1907 in OH
- Kenesaw Charles Waterman, b. 1909
- Kenesaw E. Landis, 1909, Illinois
- Kenesaw Landis Brown, b. 1910 in WV
- Glenn Kenesaw Slipper, b. 1910 in IL
- Kenesaw C. Pusel, b. 1911 in NE
- Kenesaw K. Kimball, b. 1914
- His middle name, Kermit, might have been a nod to Teddy Roosevelt’s son Kermit.
- Kenesaw Mountain Landis, b. 1914
- Kenesaw Landis Fuller, b. 1917 in VA
- Kenesaw Mountain Landis Howard, b. 1921 in IL
- He died as an infant in early 1922; he was the son of Leo P. Howard, “Federal Building reporter for the Chicago Daily Journal.”
- Kenesaw L. Purcell, b. 1921
- Kenesaw Mountain Landis Matthews, b. 1922
- Kenesaw D. Goheen, b. 1922 in SD
- Kenesaw Landis Fullilove, b. 1923
- Kenneth Kenesaw Kerner, b. 1924 in IL
- Kenesaw Landis Bernsen, b. 1925
- Kenesaw Landis Grose, b. 1926 in IL
- Kenesaw Mountain Halverson, b. 1937 in MN
Plus there’s Kenesaw Mountain Landis II — Ken’s own nephew, born in 1910 in Indiana to his younger brother Frederick.
Sources:
- Hanks, Patrick. (Ed.) Dictionary of American Family Names. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
- Kenesaw Mountain Landis, First Commissioner of Baseball, Elected: 1921-1944
- Kenesaw Mountain Landis – Society for American Baseball Research
- “Obituary.” Editor & Publisher 18 Mar. 1922: 31.
- Sigman, Shayna M. “The Judisprudence of Judge Kenesaw Mountain Landis.” Marquette Sports Law Review, vol. 15, no. 2, 2005.
