Baby Names for the New Century

Rating:
Summary: Paramount
Review: As you know, finding a baby name is tough. All those new spellings and the fads in names are just beginning to change. This baby name book has everything it offers and some it forgot to mention. Classic, as well as, new names; vast multicultural referrencing not often seen in your typical baby name book. A constant companion to me as a writer. I reccomend it to strangers in book stores.

Rating:
Summary: Second to last in this category... don't waste your $$
Review: Before becoming a dad (well, I will be one in October), if you paid to me I would have never guessed I'd be reading a book on this topic today, but you see: here I am, browsing through a handful of books off of the shelves looking for ideas. Here's our case: my wife and I wanted to name our baby with a beautiful name (how original, huh?) that is not repeated anywhere near (family and close friends) and that plays well both ways, in English AND Spanish without anyone needing to twist their mouths to pronounce it.

I had a chance to check out this title and didn't find it useful enough for what I had in mind. In fact, it almost made it to the "bottom" of the list of books I reviewed today. Essentially, what it provided was an alphabetized list of names for girls, and another one for boys, without much regard for any particulars (geography, language, etc.) Definitely fell short. I'd recommend "A World of Baby Names" or "From Aaron to Zoe".

Rating:
Summary: Found "Multicultural" section lacking
Review: I also bought an African-American Baby Name Book and it did not even compare to this book. It was very difficult picking just one name out of the variety of names that Pamela Samuelson mentions. She lists names that are English, Native-American, African-American, Irish, Japanese, Polish, Spanish, and so on. Very good book. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a common name or a unique name for their child.

Rating:
Summary: This is the number one baby name book!
Review: I also bought an African-American Baby Name Book and it did not even compare to this book. It was very difficult picking just one name out of the variety of names that Pamela Samuelson mentions. She lists names that are English, Native-American, African-American, Irish, Japanese, Polish, Spanish, and so on. Very good book. I recommend it to anyone who is looking for a common name or a unique name for their child.

Rating:
Summary: Below average­­I wish I hadn't bought it
Review: I love languages and names in particular, and I am used to purchasing name books. Buying this one, however, has really let me down. Some of its drawbacks I can think of, off the top of my head, are: it does not include a number of current and even trendy names, the pronunciations are often not written clearly (with an occasional "just flat wrong" pronunciation given), and some of the definitions and origins are inaccurate, if not completely inaccurate. Sure, any name book can have a lot of interesting names, but my suggestion is to buy just about any baby name book /but/ this one.

Rating:
Summary: The worst name book I've ever bought.
Review: I love languages and names in particular, and I am used to purchasing name books. Buying this one, however, has really let me down. Some of its drawbacks I can think of, off the top of my head, are: it does not include a number of current and even trendy names, the pronunciations are often not written clearly (with an occasional "just flat wrong" pronunciation given), and some of the definitions and origins are inaccurate, if not completely inaccurate. Sure, any name book can have a lot of interesting names, but my suggestion is to buy just about any baby name book /but/ this one.

Rating:
Summary: Below average­­I wish I hadn't bought it
Review: I was disappointed with what I found between the covers of this book which looks, from the outside, very helpful and informative. I found the selection of names left something to be desired, and there was nothing very exciting with the names that were here. The format isn't the best, and I would not count on this book to look up accurate meanings. I do like the fact that the 500 most popular names have their popularity number after them in the meanings index, but this small fact can hardly compensate for the number of faults this book has.

As an author as well as a baby-name enthusiast, I found it lacking the necessary elements for a good resource in character naming. Though it might look helpful, it wasn't in the end.

My advice, if you're thinking about getting it: don't. You'll wish you didn't. Spend your money on something by Rosenkrantz and Satran, or Lansky.

Rating:
Summary: Not helpful at all
Review: I was hoping to find unique names from other countries and their meanings, but I found this book pretty boring and I don't care for it.

Rating:
Summary: Found "Multicultural" section lacking
Review: While this book has many fine choices for names, I bought it as I have a mixed heritage and would like to reflect that in the choices for my children's names. However, the multicultural aspect was at times nonexistent, and in some cases, quoted names that were not of the origin specified. There have been discussions on Internet Boards about this book, all readers have questioned the research as I have. Would recommend as a general baby name book, but if you want more than a less than one sentence meaning or accurate ethnic names, steer clear.