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Summary: You don't need a baby to profit from this onomastic classic
Review: This is the only name book with "baby" in the title that is worth reading. (It was originally titled "The Facts on File Dictionary of First Names".) The only real competitor this has is George Rippey Stewart's "American Given Names", which will cost you over six times as much.Dunkling, who founded Britain's Names Society, and Gosling don't just tell you the meaning of the name, but its derivation, when it entered the language, when it became popular (and fell off, and rebounded), why people used it when they did, literary examples, and lots of other juicy bits. One drawback is that it hasn't been revised since its appearance in 1983, and has missed some of the recent fads. The no. 1 girl's name of 1990 isn't in here at all. (You'll find it on a map of France.) But then, no one predicted the Pet Rock either. Every literate person should have a name book next to his dictionary and thesaurus. This book costs less than a movie ticket, is more fun, and lasts a lot longer. Never mind the new parents, get it for yourself!
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