The Language of Names: What We Call Ourselves and Why It Matters [Hardcover]

Justin Kaplan (Author), Anne Bernays (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 7, 1997

From the names we give our children to the names Hollywood gives to its stars, a study of the ways in which names shape our culture argues that our identities and how we live our lives are tied up in what we call ourselves. 25,000 first printing.

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

To name a thing is to have power over it. Justin Kaplan and Anne Bernays explore the history and social significance of names in this intriguing and thoughtful book. They trace the growing trend in the United States away from traditional naming conventions toward creative and individually meaningful personal names. They also illustrate how national character shows itself in the names people give in different countries, and they discuss naming lore from Adam and Eve to Ellis Island.

From Publishers Weekly

A husband and wife who achieve literary distinction independent of each other are unusual. Practically unique, then, must be the phenomenon of any such pair joining forces to write a single work, which is exactly what award-winning biographer and critic Kaplan (Walt Whitman: A Life) and novelist Bernays (Growing Up Rich; Professor Romeo) set out to do. When not the subject of superficial baby-naming guides, the study of names, or onomastics, can actually be enthralling, as it is here. With much verve and a little self-interest, the two tackled the sticky legal, social, psychological and linguistic problems that surround modern American naming practices, whether they concern children, fictional characters or movie stars and starlets. In chapters on such topics as maiden names, the etiquette of exchanging names, naming in the black community and immigrants' name-changing, Kaplan and Bernays combined a survey with cultural history. The only drawback is the sometimes rambling, sometimes overly combative tone one or the other or both adopt as readers are regaled with anecdotes about the Hollywood name game or assailed with the reasons that women who adopt their husbands' names may be caving in to masculine biases. Such quibbles notwithstanding, rarely has the fundamental human function of naming received such an energetic, enlightening and engaging treatment.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

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Product Details

• Hardcover: 256 pages
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster; First edition. edition (February 7, 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0684807416
• ISBN-13: 978-0684807416
• Product Dimensions: 8.5 x 5.7 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 15.2 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (3 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,836,951 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

14 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Quite Interesting, April 23, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Language of Names: What We Call Ourselves and Why It Matters (Hardcover)

This was a great book to read. It covers more topics than anyone could imagine and many interesting facts were presented. For instance, one neat thing I learned was that people who are named after their fathers are more likely to end up in a mental institution. The book also talks about name-changing in Ellis Island, names of geographical locations, maiden names, and much more. Highly recommended!

24 of 30 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars A book by any other name . . ., August 22, 2001

By 

J. Gifford (Las Vegas NV) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: The Language of Names: What We Call Ourselves and Why It Matters (Paperback)

What We Call Ourselves and Why It Matters -- this subtitle promises much, but, unfortunately, the authors haven't delivered on it. A better subtitle for The Language of Names would be Dozens of Neat Anecdotes About Names in Thematic Form But Without a Common Thread. There's no premise to this book, just thematic chapters that discuss maiden names, sports team names, etc. That doesn't mean that this isn't an interesting book. At times, The Language of Names is really quite interesting, but this book isn't what the package claims it is.

I recommend this book as a fun exercise in why we name ourselves what we do, not as a serious effort to uncover why it matters.

One other point: the chapter on maiden names attacks at length the tradition of the woman taking the man's name, which is really out of context with the rest of the book. A history of why women take men's names and what the other options are would fascinate. Attacking men and belittling what others choose to do, at least in this context, does not.

10 of 14 people found the following review helpful:

3.0 out of 5 stars The language of names loses much in translation., April 30, 1997

By A Customer

This review is from: The Language of Names: What We Call Ourselves and Why It Matters (Hardcover)

A rose by any other name may smell as sweet, but if husband and wife team Justin Kaplan and Anne Bernays are to be believed, the names we call ourselves are anything but irrelevant. Their recent book, "The Language of Names," reiterates and expounds upson everything everyone of importance has ever said about the link between our names for ourselves, our children, our idols, and our cities. And, while much of what the authors have to say makes for diverting reading, the book is by no means the treatise on names that it is packaged to be.