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17 of 17 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
Great collection of names; but poor book for baby names, May 19, 2004
This is a great piece of scholarly work -- a vast compilation of Hindu names. But if you're looking for a source of unique baby names, this book will frustrate you a lot.Other reviewers have already highlighted the user un-friendliness of the book ... small font, mixing of gender, confusing Sanskrit classical spelling -- with all of which I agree. So I'll elaborate on the names themselves. After going through more than 20,000 names in this book, I doubt if you will 'yield' more than 50 names of either gender that would serve as unique names for your baby. The book gives no consideration to whether the name is for a human, whether it is acceptable, and whether it is pronounceable. For example, who in the right mind would name their son Sadaparibhuta (always in fear), or their daughter Dakini (a witch)?! And would you really want a long name like Mahasahasrapramardini?! The book is filled with such mythological names, so the acceptable ones are needles in the haystack. However, to be fair to Maneka Gandhi, she has never touted this as a source of names for your baby. Her introduction does make it clear that she just intended this to be a work of scholarship. It is the readers who are construing this to be a book of baby names.
Moreover, I doubt if there is a more complete compilation of Hindu names around, than this one. If you have the patience (and you'll need lots of it, especially if you don't know your baby's gender!) this is a good book to go through. We did, and found a nice unique name for our little one.
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7 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Encyclopaedia, not just a book on Hindu Names, August 5, 2000
If anybody asks me to recommend a book on Hindu names and meanings, I would first recommend this. You are sure to name your baby after going through this book. Each name has almost all the meanings it has. The author-Maneka Gandhi-a Minister in the central government(India) now, and daughter-in-law of ex-prime minister of India, Indira Gandhi has access to Vedas and read the Mahabharata, the Ramayana, the Kathasaritsagara, the Panchatantra, the listings of all Vedas and Upanishads. This probably made her list all Hindu names, their source,gender and the meaning. Meanings are many, all are listed and the source of the name is explained in detail. For example, "Sakuntla" means a bird or protected by birds. Sakuntala is teh daughter of Menaka & Viswamitra. She was adopted by sage Kanva. Since the girl was protected by birds, she was called Sakuntala. She married king Dushyanta of the Lunar Dynasty and became the mother of the Emperor Bharata, after whose name India is called Bharat . 85% of Hindus in India (out of 100 billions) and Hindus outside India will definitely benefit out of this rich resource. It is an encyclopaedia not just a book.
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4 of 4 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
worth it!, November 2, 2003
I was surprised to see the bad reviews for this book. This book is a collection of names in alphabetical order. Unfortunately it is not seperated gender-wise. I bought this book when I was expecting my second son. I wanted a name which went well with my first son's and I must say the book served its purpose. There are a lot of names from the epics, but you can ignore them (if you are not interested). It is just a vast collection of names. Please note that it takes a few days and a lot of patience to go through those 20,000 names.
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