Customer Reviews

Spanish Baby Names: Traditional and Modern First Names of Spain and the Americas

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Spanish Baby Names is a marvelous, 107 page, A to Z listing of both boy and girl baby names, including both full names and diminutive versions thereof. Each name has a brief description of its origin and meaning in this excellent reference. Enhanced with a one-page bibliography, including a section of online saints' lives and saints' days websites, Spanish Baby Names is a superbly presented baby name idea book for Hispanic families.

I like Spanish Baby Names by J. Sierra for its wealth of Spanish, Basque, Catalan, Galician and Asturian first names (over 5,000 including diminutives). The fact that a selection of first names in the minority languages of Spain is included adds a great value to this book.

But there is one important thing I miss - frequency data. I don't think it's OK to list such exotic (old-fashioned?) Spanish names as Audomaro, Ausencio, Auxencio, Austreberto, Avertano, Averano, Avertino, Azario, Azariel, Azarias etc. (even Atahualpa, the name of a famous Inca ruler is listed!) without mentioning their frequency. I don't believe these (and other similar names) are much in use nowadays.

Fascinating introduction about the history of Spanish names. I especially liked the Basque names and all the nicknames and variations. I would recommend it for families that want traditional names or new twists on traditional names.