Customer Reviews

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

5 star:		(4)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(5)

 

 

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!

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.

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.

I can't believe she has actually published this book without doing more research! Almost all the Japanese names listed there are useless - I would feel sorry for your child. If she is so inaccuarte with Japanese names, I wouldn't trust any of other foreign names listed there. The author should be more responsible if she was going to publish something. Do more research, please!

I'm a Japanese national, and as far as Japanese names are concerned, most of the author's picks in this book are seldom correct. And when they are correct, they are obscure. I saw a lot of crazy ones that cannot be names, and the meanings are often nonsensical. This makes me sucpicious about the credibility of other names from other cultures.

Maybe one out of every 100 names in this book is a name I've heard of. There must be over 20,000 of the 25,000 names that are Hindu, Arabic, Hebrew, African, Thai, or Czech. The first 10 girls' names listed are Aaliyah, Aanandini, Aba, Ababuo, Abagbe, Abam, Abayomi, Abebi, Abedabun, and Abegaila. Abagbe???!!!

If you're looking for a simple book of names to peruse, this is not the one for you.

An appealing book with an attractive lay-out and fairly comprehensive coverage of names from many cultural sources. Not always accurate as to the meaning and/or origin of names: readers wanting more depth might want to consult some of the other excellent books available. However, this is a good place to start and includes lots of interesting suggestions on how to go about selecting a name for the new family member.

Name explanations include personal opinions from the author that are totally offensive, like describing certain names as "too ethnic" or "too Hispanic." What is that supposed to mean? Actually, I know exactly what it means, and I was flabbergasted that such ignorant nonsense was included in such a mainstream series as "The Everything..." books. I guess this book's audience is intended to be Anglo American or those who want to be more Anglo, which is curious since the list includes many African American and Arabic names. I paid 50 cents for a used copy of this book, and this Pilipina-American naming a Pilipina/Latina-American daughter wants her money back.

I found this book to be just about everything I was looking for in a name book. It gave a wide variety of names along with their meanings and origins. There were also lists included of things like what celebrities are naming their children, flower and animal names, etc. The book was well structured and easy to navigate which is a plus when going through it with my husband. I would highly recommend this book to anyone looking for a thorough name book.

My husband and I are expecting our first child soon and are looking for names. This book has a every name you can think of including some unusual names. We really like the book format and are still considering a few names, but this was a fun way to think up new names and consider them for our son. If you are looking for a name with a certain ethnic background this book has almost all the different cultures covered. Covered every name from A to Z. Just like the title says.