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A Dictionary of First Names
Do you love or hate your name? Do you know what it really means? How do you choose the right name for someone? We all have a first name, but how many of us really know its origin and history?
This comprehensive dictionary provides a fascinating collection of linguistic, historical, and associated information about some 7,000 names, making it the ideal reference for linguists and family historians, as well as an important source of information for parents choosing a name for a child. It
is the ultimate first name handbook, a delightfully informative, comprehensive survey of European and American names. New to this edition are two appendices which give the dictionary an international Common Names in the Arab World and Common Names of the Indian Subcontinent . These appendices
should be especially helpful to linguists and historians interested in these parts of the world. Typical entries provide the linguistic and ethnic root of a name. "Jennifer," for instance, is a Cornish form of "Guinevere." Most entries also include the non-English form or cognate of a name. No other
handbook comes close to the wealth of information found here.
This comprehensive dictionary provides a fascinating collection of linguistic, historical, and associated information about some 7,000 names, making it the ideal reference for linguists and family historians, as well as an important source of information for parents choosing a name for a child. It
is the ultimate first name handbook, a delightfully informative, comprehensive survey of European and American names. New to this edition are two appendices which give the dictionary an international Common Names in the Arab World and Common Names of the Indian Subcontinent . These appendices
should be especially helpful to linguists and historians interested in these parts of the world. Typical entries provide the linguistic and ethnic root of a name. "Jennifer," for instance, is a Cornish form of "Guinevere." Most entries also include the non-English form or cognate of a name. No other
handbook comes close to the wealth of information found here.
480 pages, Paperback
First published January 1, 1990
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68 people want to read
About the author
Patrick Hanks
44 books1 followerPatrick Hanks was an English lexicographer, corpus linguist, and onomastician. He edited dictionaries of general language, as well as dictionaries of personal names.
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Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews
January 1, 2023
Forget about those baby names books--buy this definitive and billion times more accurate dictionary of first names and give the best name to your son or daughter!
It's also indispensable for giving appropriate and meaningful names to your fiction characters.
It's also indispensable for giving appropriate and meaningful names to your fiction characters.
March 30, 2024
(#20)
Genre & Format: Reference | Print
Title: A Dictionary of First Names
Author or Creator: Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Number of pages: 443
Year of publication/release: 1990
As a writer, I usually browse through books of names (I prefer books to websites). What I like about these dictionaries is that they include the origins of names and meanings. This book shines a spotlight on other countries and groups: names of the Arab world, Indian subcontinent, New Testament, Saint’s names, Aristocratic names, and cults. This book also offers context on the transparency between names and vocabulary. I enjoyed flipping through this book, especially when it comes from the library. I am always afraid to purchase one of these of my own considering new ones are released each year.
Genre & Format: Reference | Print
Title: A Dictionary of First Names
Author or Creator: Patrick Hanks and Flavia Hodges
Publisher: Oxford University Press
Number of pages: 443
Year of publication/release: 1990
As a writer, I usually browse through books of names (I prefer books to websites). What I like about these dictionaries is that they include the origins of names and meanings. This book shines a spotlight on other countries and groups: names of the Arab world, Indian subcontinent, New Testament, Saint’s names, Aristocratic names, and cults. This book also offers context on the transparency between names and vocabulary. I enjoyed flipping through this book, especially when it comes from the library. I am always afraid to purchase one of these of my own considering new ones are released each year.
September 13, 2020
Quite a Handy little Name Book if I do say so Myself.
November 26, 2022
The meaning behind a name is important to me. This book had a unique approach by giving a robust history of each name. I nerdily enjoyed it!
May 14, 2011
It's fun reading the meanings and origins behind names. The introduction reads academically: this is definitely a reference book. (I'm glad I could check it out from the library, actually!) The book admits that it cannot be comprehensive, especially since there are so many made-up names nowadays. There are a few names with explanations of how they came into being by combining with other names, etc.
Most names are British English; some have notations that they're mainly American. A few say that they've fallen out of use or have become unpopular because of some reason or another, which is actually sort of fascinating in its own right.
The names are usually for the English language, with some from neighboring European lands. A sub-section at the back includes names from India and from the Arabic/Middle East areas.
I was a little disappointed when I searched for my name. Oh, well.
This could be an excellent reference for an author or writer looking for real-world names for characters, especially for those authors who like to have the character's name's meaning mean something about the character.
Most names are British English; some have notations that they're mainly American. A few say that they've fallen out of use or have become unpopular because of some reason or another, which is actually sort of fascinating in its own right.
The names are usually for the English language, with some from neighboring European lands. A sub-section at the back includes names from India and from the Arabic/Middle East areas.
I was a little disappointed when I searched for my name. Oh, well.
This could be an excellent reference for an author or writer looking for real-world names for characters, especially for those authors who like to have the character's name's meaning mean something about the character.
January 26, 2010
Still haven't decided on a definite name for baby, but I at least wrote down my favorite names as I went through this book (not the funnest task in the world to do).
Displaying 1 - 7 of 7 reviews