{"id":7820,"date":"2013-06-28T14:09:13","date_gmt":"2013-06-28T18:09:13","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/?p=7820"},"modified":"2013-06-28T14:19:49","modified_gmt":"2013-06-28T18:19:49","slug":"baby-name-book-recommendations","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/2013\/06\/28\/baby-name-book-recommendations\/","title":{"rendered":"Baby Name Book Recommendations"},"content":{"rendered":"

Brooke writes:<\/p>\n

I’ve been following you for over a year now. Basically since we first
\nstarted trying to conceive. I’m finally pregnant and am excited to start
\nnaming our baby!
\nHowever, I’m struggling with where to even start. I was just wondering if
\nyou had an suggestions for books to use to start our list. I already
\nbought The Baby Name Wizard book, but it doesn’t seem as helpful in making
\na list as it does in researching that list, once you already know a name
\n(or style) you like.
\nI think I’d like something more like a really long list of names we can go
\nthrough and either select or strike out. Do you have an recommendations?<\/p>\n

thanks!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

 <\/p>\n

It will not surprise you to hear that if I could have only one baby name book, it would be the one you already own: The Baby Name Wizard<\/a>, by Laura Wattenberg.<\/p>\n

\"(photo<\/a>

(photo from Amazon.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

As you know, it has two main sections. The first section is a list of names; each name has a pronunciation, a snapshot of its popularity, suggested sister\/brother names (which often end up being more like “If you like this name, try these”), and a brief discussion of the name. The second section is categories of names based on style.<\/p>\n

I find it helpful for list-making because you can browse in the first section (the name list part) just as you would in a standard alphabetical-list-of-names book—but each name you look at leads you gradually to find your overall naming style. If you’re leafing idly through the first section and you think, “Oh! Alice! I like Alice!,” you can immediately see that Alice is in the “Antique Charm” and “Ladies and Gentlemen” categories. You can flip to those categories and look through them; maybe you will think, “YES. This is the style category I like: I love TONS of these names!” or maybe you will think, “Hm. No, this doesn’t really seem right.” And you will go on to the next name: “Oh, ALYSSA! I like that even better!”—and off you go to check out the “Lacy and Lissome” and “Turn of the 21st Century” categories to see if either of those are more like it.<\/p>\n

Or you can look at the suggested sister and brother names. I played a game where I let each name lead me to another name. If I liked Alice, I’d find my favorite of the sister names (Clara) and go look that up; then I’d look in the sister suggestions for Clara, choose a favorite (Eliza), and go to THAT name, and so on. Sometimes I’d end up in a loop, right back at Alice or Clara again, with an excited list scribbled down and a feeling that I was definitely on the right path. Other times I’d start at one name I liked, but soon I’d think, “Hm. I don’t really like any of these sibling names. And even when I go back and do it over, I still end up where I don’t like anything. Maybe this name is a style outlier for me.”<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

The second most important book in my collection sounds more like what you’re looking for: I like to have a big huge name dictionary that pretty much lists alllllll the names. I look for a book with a huge number in the title, ideally ending with a “+” rather than an “001” (it couldn’t end up at 50,001 in any way that could be considered natural; either they had to plump up the list or edit it down). I have two: The Baby Name Bible<\/a>, by Pamela Redmond Satran & Linda Rosenkrantz (authors of Beyond Jennifer & Jason<\/a>, the name book that took the top of my head off back in the 1990s), and 100,000+ Baby Names<\/a>, by Bruce Lansky (before that, I used his book The Very Best Baby Name Book in the Whole Wide World<\/a>; I still own a copy, because 30,000 names seems more reasonable than 100,000 for browsing).<\/p>\n

\"(photo<\/a>

(photo from Amazon.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

\"(photo<\/a>

(photo from Amazon.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

I use these for general browsing\/hunting—but because they list SO MANY names, I find it overwhelming to go through page by page: my eyes glaze over and I’m not even seeing the names individually anymore. I use these books more often when I need a name that starts with a particular letter or letters and I want to make sure I look at all the candidates\/variations\/spellings. I also use them for meanings and origins.<\/p>\n

However, when possible I double-check meanings and origins in the book I consider my most reliable source for such things: The Oxford Dictionary of First Names<\/a>, by Hanks, Hardcastle, and Hodges. I don’t use it much for browsing, just fact-checking.<\/p>\n

\"(photo<\/a>

(photo from Amazon.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

I have one more book I find fun: Baby Names Made Easy: The Complete Reverse-Dictionary of Baby Names<\/a>, by Amanda Elizabeth Barden.<\/p>\n

\"(photo<\/a>

(photo from Amazon.com)<\/p><\/div>\n

If name meanings are important to you, I’d recommend getting a copy: it has names sorted into meaning categories such as “Blessings & Gifts,” “Happiness & Joy,” “Intelligence & Wisdom,” and “Peace & Freedom.” (But double-check the meanings for accuracy.)<\/p>\n

********<\/p>\n

More name book recommendations for Brooke?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Brooke writes: I’ve been following you for over a year now. Basically since we first started trying to conceive. I’m finally pregnant and am excited to start naming our baby! However, I’m struggling with where to even start. I was just wondering if you had an suggestions for books to use to start our list. […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7820","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3iyiG-228","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7820","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7820"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7820\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7831,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7820\/revisions\/7831"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7820"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7820"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.swistle.com\/babynames\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7820"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}