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A Concise Dictionary of First Names
Do you love your name? Do you hate your name? What does your name really mean? How do you choose the right name for someone?
Here is the ultimate first name handbook--a delightfully informative, comprehensive survey, from the traditional to the new and unconventional. With well over 6,000 entries, this is the most wide-ranging dictionary of first names available. Over 150 names--including Calista, Gaia, and Macy-are
added to this new edition. In addition to a new introduction from the authors, the Third Edition also provides the answers to all of your questions on the meanings and histories of names, how they have risen or fallen in popularity, and who the famous bearers of the names are from history, fiction,
and the screen. Detailed appendix material includes European, Arabic, and Indian names. The new edition also contains detailed coverage of Japanese and Chinese names.
Completely revised and updated, this is the ultimate source for new parents and anyone interested in names or language.
Here is the ultimate first name handbook--a delightfully informative, comprehensive survey, from the traditional to the new and unconventional. With well over 6,000 entries, this is the most wide-ranging dictionary of first names available. Over 150 names--including Calista, Gaia, and Macy-are
added to this new edition. In addition to a new introduction from the authors, the Third Edition also provides the answers to all of your questions on the meanings and histories of names, how they have risen or fallen in popularity, and who the famous bearers of the names are from history, fiction,
and the screen. Detailed appendix material includes European, Arabic, and Indian names. The new edition also contains detailed coverage of Japanese and Chinese names.
Completely revised and updated, this is the ultimate source for new parents and anyone interested in names or language.
- GenresReference
328 pages, Hardcover
First published February 18, 1993
24 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 - 2 of 2 reviews
May 11, 2025
This book claims to contain the meanings of more than 3000 names, some in a dictionary for the first time. It is extremely formal and British, with every definition containing examples of a name's combined elements in their original language. It uses graphic icons to show whether names are feminine or masculine and focuses on names used in "the English-speaking world," implying Great Britain, America, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. With its references to productive suffixes or words in genitive or accusative cases, it has the aura of a textbook.
The icons in the "Concise Dictionary" might be easier to spot visually, but when the files were converted into Braille, both icons were rendered as asterisks. This was OK for names like Edmund (masculine) or Prunella (feminine), but not for unfamiliar names where the gender was unclear to this reader.
It is also heavily weighted toward Christian names and includes many stories of Biblical characters and saints. The authors also claim that many names became popular because of film stars, politicians, and characters in literature, although many of the books cited were unfamiliar to this reader.
The book is leavened with moments of typically dry British humor. We learn that, "St Barbara has always been one of the most popular saints in the calendar, although there is some doubt whether she ever existed. According to legend, she was imprisoned in a tower and later murdered by her father, who was then struck down by a bolt of lightning; accordingly, she is the patron of architects, stonemasons, and fortifications, and of firework makers, artillerymen, and gunpowder magazines." And elsewhere, "The name Clara was made famous in the 1920s by the silent film actress Clara Bow (1905-65), known as the "it" girl (because, whatever "it" was, she had it)."
Other definitions are altogether amusing or intriguing:
"Phyllis: Name of a minor character in Greek mythology who killed herself for love and was transformed into an almond tree; the Greek word phyllis means foliage, so clearly her name doomed her from the start.
"Senga: Scottish: common in the north-east of Scotland, this name is popularly supposed to represent Agnes spelled backwards (which it undeniably does). However, it is more likely to have originated from the Gaelic vocabulary word seang "slender".
"Tristram: Variant of Tristan. Both forms of the name occur in medieval and later versions of the legend. In Laurence Sterne's comic novel Tristram Shandy (1759-67), the name is bestowed on the narrator through a misunderstanding and is regarded by his father as a great misfortune.
Since the name originally intended for him was
Trismegistus, the degree of misfortune may be taken as somewhat
exaggerated."
Parents seeking more variety and cultural diversity will want to look elsewhere for inspiration, but this book may be helpful for those wondering about the linguistic sources of fairly traditional "English" names.
The icons in the "Concise Dictionary" might be easier to spot visually, but when the files were converted into Braille, both icons were rendered as asterisks. This was OK for names like Edmund (masculine) or Prunella (feminine), but not for unfamiliar names where the gender was unclear to this reader.
It is also heavily weighted toward Christian names and includes many stories of Biblical characters and saints. The authors also claim that many names became popular because of film stars, politicians, and characters in literature, although many of the books cited were unfamiliar to this reader.
The book is leavened with moments of typically dry British humor. We learn that, "St Barbara has always been one of the most popular saints in the calendar, although there is some doubt whether she ever existed. According to legend, she was imprisoned in a tower and later murdered by her father, who was then struck down by a bolt of lightning; accordingly, she is the patron of architects, stonemasons, and fortifications, and of firework makers, artillerymen, and gunpowder magazines." And elsewhere, "The name Clara was made famous in the 1920s by the silent film actress Clara Bow (1905-65), known as the "it" girl (because, whatever "it" was, she had it)."
Other definitions are altogether amusing or intriguing:
"Phyllis: Name of a minor character in Greek mythology who killed herself for love and was transformed into an almond tree; the Greek word phyllis means foliage, so clearly her name doomed her from the start.
"Senga: Scottish: common in the north-east of Scotland, this name is popularly supposed to represent Agnes spelled backwards (which it undeniably does). However, it is more likely to have originated from the Gaelic vocabulary word seang "slender".
"Tristram: Variant of Tristan. Both forms of the name occur in medieval and later versions of the legend. In Laurence Sterne's comic novel Tristram Shandy (1759-67), the name is bestowed on the narrator through a misunderstanding and is regarded by his father as a great misfortune.
Since the name originally intended for him was
Trismegistus, the degree of misfortune may be taken as somewhat
exaggerated."
Parents seeking more variety and cultural diversity will want to look elsewhere for inspiration, but this book may be helpful for those wondering about the linguistic sources of fairly traditional "English" names.
July 26, 2009
Really like having all the names sorted alphabetically, not by boy/girl.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews