Best Exotic Baby Names: New, Historical, Ancient, Mystical [Paperback]

Allison Jones (Author), G. Kirscheimer (Editor)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 14, 2008

Experience the magic of languages and cool cultural concepts as these 4,000 names from myth, legend, nature, and spiritual culture offer boundless possibilities. Author Allison Jones has collected exotic names for your baby from around the world, those with the best meanings, pronunciations, and spellings. Her goal of presenting the planet's most inspired and profound names has been realized here...discover gems like Uni Taika [oo-nee tigh-ee-kah], a Finnish name which combines Uni: Dream and Taika: Magic to mean a dream-spell. This reference book is fascinating because each name has been translated, and when needed, broken down to its component parts. The appendices breaks down familiar names, like Cassidy from Cass: curls and Digh: mound, and lists of exotic names in the English language, plus hundreds of Early American girl and boy names, from pilgrims to pioneers. Give your baby a special name with Best Exotic Baby Names as your personal guide!

Editorial Reviews

Review

Best Exotic Baby Names contains thousands of names gathered from around the globe and across the ages. This unique compilation of names has been carefully crafted over decades of loving research, and thoughtfully catalogued with pronunciation, language of origin, meaning, and etymological break down. The best names are those that empower a new generation and shape the positive identity that will grow within them, so this refreshing book of new names is sure to inspire the families of our multicultural generation. --Press Release, December 5th, 2007

About the Author

Author Allison Jones has been researching names since 1993, studying with scholars and natives in more than 50 languages for her unique reference book Best Exotic Baby Names. She has traveled across Europe, the Indian Peninsula, lived in Central America, and North America. She is fluent in Spanish (taught high school in Costa Rica in 1977), worked for the Internet Language Company in Seattle, and started Neoteric Publications in 1997. The mother of 5 exotically-named children, she currently lives in the Pacific Northwest.

Product Details

• Paperback: 168 pages
• Publisher: Neoteric Pubns (February 14, 2008)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0965733823
• ISBN-13: 978-0965733823
• Product Dimensions: 8.3 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches
• Shipping Weight: 7.2 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (11 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #523,285 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Best Exotic Baby Names, January 4, 2008

By 

K. Matsugreenberg (New York City, NY) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Best Exotic Baby Names: New, Historical, Ancient, Mystical (Paperback)

Best Exotic Baby Names: New, Historical, Ancient, Mystical

This book is perfect! We are expecting our baby in the Spring and are looking for a name that is meaningful and unique. We found 4 names right away that we're considering now! This book is the most helpful of all of the books I've looked at for non-typical, original names.

8 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Interesting read, but didn't help us to find a name, July 19, 2010

By 

Eva Funk "Kravtsova" (IL USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Best Exotic Baby Names: New, Historical, Ancient, Mystical (Paperback)

When I was reading through reviews of this book, I was hoping someone would give specific examples of names to give me an idea of what to expect. I was looking for a name that is not too overused (like Aiden and Christopher), but not something that would require my child to always spell his name. "New, Historical, Ancient" names sounded intriguing and promising, so I bought the book. It proved to be an interesting read, but unfortunately, I didn't find what I was looking for.

So here are some examples:
Girl Names - "A"
(page 1)
Aardina (Dutch)- Earth
Aarona (Hebrew) - Shining Singer, the teacher
Adaoma (Africa) - Kindhearted Daughter
Adara (Africa) - Hope
Adela (Germanic) - Noble
Adisa (Sweden) - Goddess
Adora (France) - Adored
Aerial (Latin) - Airborne
Akane (Japanese) - Red

Some other girl names (my personal random pick from each letter of the alphabet) - Bailara, Cantoria, Dharma, Ederra, Folasade, Gabisa, Hermione, Inira, Jamesina, Kaari, Ladora, Malini, Namisa, Onneka, Pema, Qinna, Rheia, Sachiko, Tamire, Ucheoma, Veda, Wailani, Xanay, Yejide, Zalisha

Some examples of boy names (my random pick) - Ajkin, Blaan, Cadoc, Daitan, Elion, Fortrend, Gavri, Haelan,Itanchan-Ki, Jai, Kallion, Lochene, Mandar, Nahshon, Ojo, Qiniso, Rahmet, Saeborn, Tarkan, Vinco, Wajan-Kuta, Yashar, Zadekiah.

The book also includes additional sections:
- Familiar Exotic Names (e.g. Amazon (Greek) - Without Breast, Avon (Welsh) - River),
- Extra Exotic Girl Names (e.g. Bilena, Deepamala, Tatewin),
- Extra Exotic Boy Names (e.g. Godleap, Juba, Tallock),
- Exotic Names in English (e.g. Acacia, Jasper, Willow)
- Early American Names (e.g. Consent, Remedy, Freeborn, Pacific)

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Looking for something WAY different?, June 16, 2009

By 

T. Shelby (Charleston, SC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Best Exotic Baby Names: New, Historical, Ancient, Mystical (Paperback)

Then this is the book for you! This book is very detailed, well organized, AND... considerate! :) Yes, considerate by way of providing pronunciations for each and every name! This book turned out to not quite be what I was looking for, but there are some very interesting names in here. I personally didn't get but so far through it, just because I got aggravated having to read almost every provided pronunciation, but this book will certainly take you away from "Amanda", "Kelly", "Christopher", and "Jonathan". Oh, an added bonus: If you give your child one of the names out of this book, they will ALWAYS know when it's a telemarketer calling, because the poor sap calling will INEVITABLY mispronounce such unique names! :)