The Everything Baby Names Book: Everything You Need to Know to Pick the Perfect Name for your Baby [Paperback]

Lisa Shaw (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 1997

Over 25,000 Names! Choosing A Name Can Be Fun!

A name is the first gift you'll give to your new baby, and picking the right name is probably the most important decision you can make before the big arrival. Your baby's name has to be a special one-one that you feel comfortable with now, and that your child can wear with pride throughout his life. But with an overwhelming variety of options available to parents today, this critical choice may seem more difficult than ever.

Whether you're looking for a completely unique name or one that reflects your family's history, The Everything Baby Names Book offers a tremendous selection of names, nicknames, and variations. It features over 25,000 names for boys and girls, including an entirely new collection of names from European, African, Asian, and Native American traditions. You might come across a name you wish your parents had chosen for you, or one that expresses your admiration for a special person or culture. Entertaining and insightful, this fully illustrated guide to picking the right name for your child is the most practical and up-to-date available.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

A chatty, opinionated book listing a huge number of unusual names and their derivations, as well as helpful lists of the most popular names from each decade. If you're thinking of naming your baby girl "Alonsa," it might be useful to know that it means "ready to fight."

Product Details

• Paperback: 344 pages
• Publisher: Adams Media Corporation; 1st edition (October 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558506551
• ISBN-13: 978-1558506558
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 8 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 3.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (15 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,672,522 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 A down-to-earth, fun baby name book with great suggestions!, November 3, 1997

By 

[e-mail] (New Jersey, USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Everything Baby Names Book: Everything You Need to Know to Pick the Perfect Name for your Baby (Paperback)

It is up-to-date and offers name lists not found in many other books such as lists of angels' names, current celebrities' baby names and names of historical locations. The opinions given by the author (most of which are positive) are very lighthearted and are given with a sense of humor. It's an easier read than the books just listing definitions and names from A to Z. Definitely recommended!

12 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Had some cool features I havent seen in other books, October 20, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: The Everything Baby Names Book: Everything You Need to Know to Pick the Perfect Name for your Baby (Paperback)

This book was pretty neat. I liked the style of the book was more colorful than the paperback type even if the colors were mostly just green and white. What I liked best about this book was that it had spanish equvilants to names I havnet really noticed in other books. Also had a alot of extra tid bits throughout the book on Native American, Hispanic, African and African-American names. As well as saints, angels and celebraties also top names of past decades. The only problem I had with this book was my name was not in it.

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars ...but do you really need EVERYTHING?, June 4, 2004

By 

Micah Newman (Dallas, TX United States) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Everything Baby Names Book: Everything You Need to Know to Pick the Perfect Name for your Baby (Paperback)

This book is completely out of control.

Any reader, or thumber-through, or this book, who will (of course) be looking for ideas on what to name an upcoming addition to her family, will be completely snowed under by the absurd profusion of exotic names contained in this book, and will end up wasting approximately 90% of the time spent poring over this waste of paper. The emphasis here is overwhelmingly on sheer quantity of information, rather than quality. I was not surprised to read from some of the other reviews here that the author has played fast-and-loose with meanings and authenticity of certain Japanese names, and this flaccidity-with-the-facts undoubtedly runs throughout the entire course of the book. As well, one might expect such a voluminous catalog of (to say the least) UNUSUAL names, to provide a pronunciation key for those parents-to-be who might actually take some of the suggestions seriously, but this book has no such help. As such, the information that is here, undoubtedly error-ridden to begin with, can be nothing more than an idle curiosity.

Above all, the vast majority of names in here are just so outlandish that NO ONE would begin to consider them. Dead set on a girl's name that begins with the letters "Tz"? No fear: there are OVER A DOZEN of them in here (I swear I am not making this up).

This book is a perfect example of the worst excesses of both reality-immune multiculturalism as well as the make-a-quick-buck-off-new-parents industry. Undoubtedly, Lisa Shaw never had in mind to put together a book that would actually help parents decide on a name for their child. Presumably, such a book exists, but this is decidedly not it.