Best Baby Name Books

iVillage Member
Registered: 04-22-2008
Best Baby Name Books
4
Tue, 04-22-2008 - 1:10pm
What are your thoughts on the best baby name books? I have three baby showers to attend between now and July, so any advice would be appreciated! (Also, has anyone read a new book called The Baby Name Workbook? My sister--who lives three states away--raves about it...would anyone else recommend it?)
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-14-2008
Tue, 04-22-2008 - 3:12pm

I like books that don't have all the meanings listed.

Avatar for dr_kae
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Registered: 03-26-2003
Tue, 04-22-2008 - 3:40pm
I actually don't like most baby name books...they're just the same lists with the same maybe right-maybe wrong meanings and sources. I like the humorous ones like 'What Not to Name Your Baby.' (And I try to ignore it when something I like turns up in them.) I really liked 'The Literary Baby Name' book by Tershia d'Elgin. It goes by literary era and lists the various characters and gives snippets of information about them and the works they show up in. And my favorite when I was pregnant was 'Puffy, Uma, Quentin: and 10,000 Other Names for Your New Millennium Baby" by Joal Ryan. It didn't take itself too seriously.

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Registered: 01-02-2006
Tue, 04-22-2008 - 4:26pm
I'm not that into most baby name books, either -- *BUT* I do highly recommend two: The first is the Beyond Jennifer & Jason, Madison & Montana book mentioned above. It was published in 1998 so it's a touch "old"; however the lists are a great way to approach baby naming. They have names categorized into dozens of topics, things like "So far in they're out," "Star Baby Names," "Comfort Names," "Names for Creative People," "Century Names," names by ethnicity and etc. I really, really like this book.


Which is what led me to purchase the same authors' latest book when it came out last year; it's called The Baby Name Bible. Woo, I could sit and read and read this over and over (in fact I did when pregnant with our now 7th baby). It's a cross between the BJJ/MM book and a name definition book. It lists names alphabetically, gives the background/definition and then also a "feel" for each name. There are also updated listsn as described in the above paragraph, scattered throughout. Two thumbs up and it's only $10.


HTH!



Darla

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Married since 1992, happily homemaking & homeschooling seven great children.
I married my college sweetheart and our family has a Christian hospitality outreach to the international students attending our local university.

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Darla
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iVillage Member
Registered: 04-23-2008
Wed, 04-23-2008 - 12:00pm

I agree with the others that most baby name books aren't that great...they just seem to re-hash the same information, and most of the names in the "Thousands upon thousands of names available books" aren't really usable.


BUT...I actually own "The Baby Name Workbook", and I agree with your sister, ClaudiaJMom! It is nothing like any other bn book I've read, and is truly useful!! It doesn't list thousands of name options, like most. Instead, it is truly a "workbook" or "handbook". It points out several things for parents to consider when going through the name-choosing process. (I thought I was a very careful, thoughtful, name-selector, but that book points out things I had never considered...like parental legacies.) It also shows that sometimes parents really should uncover the meanings of their children's names: the name "ALEXIA" is a medical condition!! Also, there are several examples, like the sliding scale of feminine-to neutral-to masculine name forms: (IMRIE---EMERY---EMORY). There are also lists of celebrity baby names in the back...there are 13 famous babies named "JACK"!! But, the author is the first I've ever seen to actually caution new parents against using "Names from Hollywood"...that is the first time I've ever seen a baby name book mention the dangers of celebrity names.