The Secret Universe of Names: The Dynamic Interplay of Names and Destiny [Hardcover]

Roy Feinson (Author), KB Imle (Collaborator)

Book Description

Publication Date: October 21, 2004

The Secret Universe of Names explains, in fascinating detail and name-by-name example, how the sounds of a specific name evoke basic, gut reactions and what this means for you and yours. Accompanying each entry is a short biography, with a photo of a well-known personality who exemplifies the name attributes, and a rating of their charisma, power and leadership skills, sex appeal, and career strengths. The Secret Universe of names is a book to give, to amuse and educate, to speculate about, and to keep forever.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Addictive. . . leave one around at a party and watch the crowd gather."?Time Out New York --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

From the Publisher

Which names are the sexiest? The most powerful? How does your name or your child's name determine destiny? Why are 'I' people becomng doctors at four times the rate of 'O' people? Why do the Keiths of the business world statistically out-perform the Nigels by almost 300%? It's all in the most irresistible name book ever.

See all Editorial Reviews

Product Details

• Hardcover: 512 pages
• Publisher: Overlook Duckworth; 1st edition (October 21, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1585675946
• ISBN-13: 978-1585675944
• Product Dimensions: 11 x 8.9 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (26 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #783,979 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

52 of 54 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Very intriguing!, November 24, 2004

By 

Pavahotti (Washington, DC) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Secret Universe of Names: The Dynamic Interplay of Names and Destiny (Hardcover)

The first thing you'll do upon picking up this book is turn to your name -- in my case, "MTH" names (for Matthew). I read through my description and it was seriously dead on. Intrigued, I looked up my sister Katherine ("KTH" names), and it was again virtually 100% accurate. So I looked up my ex-girlfriend's name, and I was floored as I read an amazing page-long description -- as though the authors had followed her around and wrote about her temperament and beliefs.

I highly recommend you check it out... Don't know if there's any science to it, but it is definitely interesting. You will get a kick out of it!

28 of 29 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Worth reviewing, November 16, 2004

By 

Dan Worth "Dan" (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: The Secret Universe of Names: The Dynamic Interplay of Names and Destiny (Hardcover)

As someone who loves language, this book hooked me. The idea that sounds influences our emotions was really well explored by the author in an interesting and accessible way. The analysis of all my family's names was almost always spot on, and even when not was good grist for conversation. I highly recommend this book. Five stockings to fill. Five books.

10 of 10 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The meaning of people's names - maybe, June 5, 2009

By 

Peter Durward Harris "Pete the music fan" (Leicester England) - See all my reviews
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This review is from: The Secret Universe of Names: The Dynamic Interplay of Names and Destiny (Hardcover)

It is easy to pour scorn on a book like this. Why should the name by which you are known have any bearing on your personality or your chances of success in life? And why, if you are successful, should it affect the way in which success manifests itself? The author suggests that the very letters in your name and the way in which they are said affects people's attitudes. He argues that every word we utter requires us to change the shape of our mouth as we say it, resulting in variations of facial expression. As a result, some names sound softer than others while there are other differences too. The author stresses that people with identical names can have different personalities, but suggests that they can still have some general characteristics in common.

After a few short introductory sections (totalling about thirty pages) discussing his theory and the research that supports it, the main part of the book (well over four hundred pages) looks at people's first names in what may be described as approximate alphabetical order. Because names are grouped together according to their basic sound, it isn't possible to stick strictly to alphabetical order, but an index is provided to help you find a name if you have difficulty locating it. The book doesn't cover every possible name but if you are interested in an English-language name that isn`t listed, you can probably work out which group it belongs to by understanding how names are grouped.

One thing I don't understand is why the first letter is critical in all cases. Katherine and Catherine sound the same when spoken, yet are listed in different groups. Where names sound similar and have an identical first letter, they are grouped together. I can more easily understand why it is more important to use the name by which you are known than the official name, if they differ. If somebody is generally known by their middle name rather than their first name, that's the one to look up in this book. More commonly, if somebody is known by an abbreviated name, look that up instead of the full name.

So Becky and Rebecca are different, although they have some things in common. Even more so, it matters whether Elizabeth is known as Beth, Betty, Liz or by her full name. Those names are in four different groups. Likewise, Katherine and Kate are in different groups. Patricia can be abbreviated to Trish or Tricia and the difference is crucial, according to this book.

In my case, some people call me Pete and others call me Peter. I really don't mind, but the r changes the sound so the two names are in different groups. I'm not convinced that either of the detailed explanations really fits me, but I recognize something of myself in each of them. Maybe the lack of a consistent identity explains why I don't fit either description.

There may be something in the author's theory, but other factors inevitably influence how people's lives develop. In the years to come, I may be able to come to a firm conclusion about the credibility or otherwise of this theory, but it is fun to browse whether it has credibility or not.