A Dictionary of First Names (Oxford Paperback Reference)

I also bought this because of rave reviews but turned out disappointed. Not good for naming babies but just for the history of old fancy names you only read in books. If you want to just look up the history of an old name, okay then use this book. But if like most people buying name books you want to name a baby born in this century look for another book.

Not very useful, old fashioned and limited (2/3 people found this helpful)

I bought this book after reading all the good reviews and comments and ignoring the one negative review. Well, I wish I hadn't. It seems that the good reviews must have been written by friends of the authors, because there is no other way to find this either useful or interesting.

Most of the names are ancient and so old fashioned as to be useless to anyone trying to name a child -- so if that is your aim, forget this book.

It could be useful to writers and historians, but then it does not agree in some instances regarding orgins of names and meanings with other texts. It will depend on whether you have faith that this book is correct and several others are not.

Oh well. Live and learn.

Authoritative and interesting - buy it! (4/7 people found this helpful)

This is the Daddy of name books, which all others should tremble before.

Your average name book will give you the name, assign it an often arbitrary nationality, and give it a one word "meaning". Not the Oxford. Here you get the etymology, origin and history of each name, and information on its usage. It also tells you the international forms and nicknames. They have clearly put in the research; I have never spotted a factual error in it.

It's organised alphabetically, without splitting into 'girls' names' and 'boys' names'; instead, it puts either a male symbol, a female symbol or both next to the name, explaining the changing usage patterns of a "unisex" name such as Shirley or Taylor. It's British but tells you whether a name is particularly popular in, say, America or Australia.

It also includes appendices of names from lots of other languages, including for example Welsh, Arabic, Spanish and Scandinavian, although the information in the appendices is less detailed and of course, fewer names are included as there would hardly be room for every name in every country. It often cross-references from the main dictionary to an appendix, e.g. Declan will send you to Deaglan in the Irish section.

As if all that wasn't enough! It also includes lists of the most popular names circa 2004 in most English speaking countries, and an overview of what names have been popular in previous decades.

Informative guide for parents and also very readable for those interested in names to flick through or use as a reference guide.

And extra props for not having a picture of a baby on the front, or indeed the word 'baby' - not everybody interested in names is pregnant!

At best average, in general disappointing (3/5 people found this helpful)

I expected more from Oxford Paperbacks.

This book is full of names like Wenceslaus, Adolph, Tarquin and Arbothnut, but very low on useful 21st century options.

The origins and definitions are slight and in some cases wrong (i.e., this book has "Jaydon" listed as a modern coinage, but is actually an ancient Hebrew name meaning "Jehovah has heard"; they have "Stephen" and "Stephanie" down as of orignally of French origin, when the English and French names are actually derived from the name of Greek origin).

Very disappointing.

Baby names (3/7 people found this helpful)

I found this book very helpful. It lists boys and girls names together (using the male/female symbol to differentiate between the two) and includes a discription about the origin of the name. It also lists, at the back, names in; Arabic, Irish, Scottish, Welsh, Scandinavian, Russian, Spanish, Italian, Indian, Chinese, German & French.

Patrick Hanks, Kate Hardcastle, Flavia Hodges

Reader Reviews:

Okay but could be better (1/1 people found this helpful)

Not very useful, old fashioned and limited (2/3 people found this helpful)

Authoritative and interesting - buy it! (4/7 people found this helpful)

At best average, in general disappointing (3/5 people found this helpful)

Baby names (3/7 people found this helpful)

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