The Melting Pot Book of Baby Names [Paperback]

Connie Lockhart Ellefson (Author)

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com Review

Whether you're simply interested in cognomens (names), or expecting a birth, Connie Lockhart Ellefson's compendium of more than 10,000 names and meanings from 50 countries ought to do the trick. There's Greek Adara meaning beauty, Bon-Hwa in Korean is utmost glory, and Myung-Suck means long-lasting rock in Korean. It's a fascinating collection, and so easy to lose yourself you might forget to find a name for Junior.

Product Details

• Paperback: 240 pages
• Publisher: Betterway Books; 3 edition (October 1995)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1558703624
• ISBN-13: 978-1558703629
• Product Dimensions: 8.8 x 5.9 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 14.1 ounces
• Average Customer Review: 3.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (6 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #2,301,062 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

Connie Ellefson grew up moving all around the West with her family, and developed an eclectic set of interests to write about, including baby names (The Melting Pot Book of Baby Names) conservation (two books on Xeriscape, which means low-water landscaping) and, most of all, traveling light! After multiple layoffs in her field of civil engineering, she realized she enjoyed organizing and decluttering her desk more than the actual engineering, so now she divides her time between writing, speaking, and hand's-on work as a professional organizer in Denver, Colorado.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

9 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Brilliant baby name book, June 17, 1998

By A Customer

This review is from: The Melting Pot Book of Baby Names (Paperback)

Ellefson's book is sheer brilliance by virtue of the fact that she organizes names by country, male and female names, and gives the history of naming for that country as well as the meaning of the name itself. IN the back there is a key chart for the most common christian names, so you can find out how Peter is spelled in England as well as Hawaii. Great book!

5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Wonderful for parents or the curious, March 20, 2000

By A Customer

This review is from: The Melting Pot Book of Baby Names (Paperback)

I use this book more than any other when answering questions about first names at our library. The introduction for each country tells a bit about naming practices and lists the most popular given names. A well-organized book fun for just browsing and wonderful for those expecting someone to name.

10 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

1.0 out of 5 stars Inaccurate and poorly researched book!, October 16, 2003

By 

Value Seeker - See all my reviews

This review is from: Melting Pot Book of Baby Names (Paperback)

I just borrowed this book from the library today. I was completely insulted by the author because she mangled the majority of the Vietnamese baby names. What makes the Vietnamese language unique compared to other Asian languages is that it uses the Roman alphabet. Moreoever, the words carry a completely different meaning when one changes from one diacritical mark to another. Ellefson not only mispelled the names, mistook certain Chinese baby names for Vietnamese name, but also misinterpreted a significant number of names in just the Vietnamese section. Like French language, certain words signify either masculine or feminine, for example 'ca'i' means female, it is not a name. She incorrectly misinterpreted 12 out of 46 female names, a 26% error rate. Worse yet, she misinterpreted 15 out of 51 of the male names, a huge 29% error rate. Just to name a few regarding the girl names, 'choy' and 'Ping' are not Vietnamese names; 'huynh' was mispelled as 'hyunh', 'Thi' as 'Ti'; 'Viet' doesn't mean 'destroy'. As for the boy names, she mispelled 'Vang' as 'Dan'. Nghia doesn't mean forever, it depends on whatever the next word is.

Ellefson seriously lacks genuine authorship in introducing another culture, especially Vietnamese. She is plainly inaccurate and culturally illiterate. She is very bold for charging buyer for this junk. If she is wrong when it comes to Vietnamese names, I have questions about her knowledge of other cultures' names. I would give her "0" stars if I had the choice. Don't waste your money buying this shoddily written book!!!