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What to Name Your Baby
Guidelines designed to help parents in making a selection preface a dictionary providing information on the origins, meanings, and use of more than four thousand names
351 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1955
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April 16, 2012If you've been holding off on reading this book because you haven't a baby to name, you'll probably be agreeably surprised.
This is the 1962 edition, so its contemporary references are often quite fascinating, including discussions of people now deceased, and early achievements of people who are still alive.
The descriptions of things like how new names are formed by adding new suffixes to old roots, the histories of the names, the definitions, the descriptions of variant forms: all make fascinating reading.
If you are looking for a name for a baby, you'd probably do well to read additional books as well; especially more recent works. But this edition would still be worth consulting. Especially if you're looking for a name for a fictional character from the period of the late nineteenth to
mid-twentieth centuries.
There are several special sections. The 'ordinary' and 'unusual' names have been agglomerated by time, largely. Many names that were quite common at the time are now rare. Others that were rare are now ordinary.
More recent editions probably deal with the newer names that have risen since.
The last section of this book is a table of saint's days and their dates. Some of the more recent versions have probably changed these lists. John Paul II went to some trouble to clear up the backlog of sanctifications, and many of the people listed may now be formally saints.
This last section is VERY dry reading, so the fragments of poetry, etc are a very necessary leavening.
This is the 1962 edition, so its contemporary references are often quite fascinating, including discussions of people now deceased, and early achievements of people who are still alive.
The descriptions of things like how new names are formed by adding new suffixes to old roots, the histories of the names, the definitions, the descriptions of variant forms: all make fascinating reading.
If you are looking for a name for a baby, you'd probably do well to read additional books as well; especially more recent works. But this edition would still be worth consulting. Especially if you're looking for a name for a fictional character from the period of the late nineteenth to
mid-twentieth centuries.
There are several special sections. The 'ordinary' and 'unusual' names have been agglomerated by time, largely. Many names that were quite common at the time are now rare. Others that were rare are now ordinary.
More recent editions probably deal with the newer names that have risen since.
The last section of this book is a table of saint's days and their dates. Some of the more recent versions have probably changed these lists. John Paul II went to some trouble to clear up the backlog of sanctifications, and many of the people listed may now be formally saints.
This last section is VERY dry reading, so the fragments of poetry, etc are a very necessary leavening.
March 31, 2019
Out of my huge collection of name books, over 115, this is one of my favorites. If you want a name book with decent, accurate info regarding meanings and derivations, plus miscellany and other interesting info, this is the book for you. Please snag a copy if you find it! I believe it's long out of print at this point.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews