Your favorite baby name book?

I’ve never picked up (or even looked through) a baby name book until yesterday.

A surprising statement coming from a name nerd on nameberry of all places, I know, but a book with endless lists of thousands of names I have to weed through to find even one that fits my taste bore me. Then, at the library, I found a book called Hello, [name_f]My[/name_f] Name Is Pabst by Miek [name_m]Bruno[/name_m] and [name_u]Kerry[/name_u] Sparks. [name_f]My[/name_f] view on name books has completely changed.

Some of the names included are quite ridiculous and not to be taken seriously, I hope (XBox360, +, Whatchamacallit, Etymology, etc.,) but there are also some gems in categories that I couldn’t help adoring ([name_u]Sinclair[/name_u], [name_f]Priscilla[/name_f], [name_m]Walt[/name_m], [name_u]Linden[/name_u], [name_f]Philomena[/name_f], [name_m]Orson[/name_m], [name_m]Lars[/name_m]) in a format that kept me intrigued!

Now, I’m thinking I’ll give one of [name_f]Pam[/name_f] and [name_f]Linda[/name_f]'s books a go. (Please don’t hate me for not doing it yet, ladies!) So, berries, do you have a particularly beloved baby name book?

I love the [name_u]Baby[/name_u] Name [name_m]Wizard[/name_m] by [name_f]Laura[/name_f] Wattenberg. She’s developed, along with her computer scientist husband, a series of algorithms which accurately predicts style families and likely sibling names. It’s eerie. In addition she provides a subjective take on each name-- no "this is a Greek name meaning ‘light-bearer;’ rather 'most commonly seen in the world as a name of Satan.; etc. P&L do this in their books as well.

For name arcana I enjoy [name_u]Kay[/name_u] Sheard’s book, “[name_m]Llewelyn[/name_m]'s Complete Book of Names.” It has a decidedly pagan twist and I am decidedly not pagan but I still enjoy it very much.

I used to have one whose title escapes me at the moment; it had maybe 100,000 names. That ended up being a quantity-over-quality issue. For example, nobody is seriously considering naming their child [name_m]Cash[/name_m] Money (hopefully), but this was listed. Wish I still had the book, just for the entertainment value. Gave it to an expectant friend years ago, though.

I really like the current release by [name_f]Pam[/name_f] & [name_f]Linda[/name_f]: The Nameberry Guide To The Very Best [name_u]Baby[/name_u] Names. [name_f]My[/name_f] only minor gripe with it is that it’s missing one of my children’s names ([name_m]Zachary[/name_m]) in favor of a variation ([name_m]Zachariah[/name_m]). Harrumph! Easy enough to justify, but I still think [name_m]Zachary[/name_m]'s going to come back!

I second this - it’s a real favourite. There are lists, which can be interesting, but I really love looking up my favourite names and exploring the suggested brother/sister names for further inspiration.

I also like ‘[name_u]Baby[/name_u] Names Made Easy’ by [name_f]Amanda[/name_f] [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] [name_m]Barden[/name_m]. It groups names by similar meanings, so if meanings are important to you this is a winner.

I’ve got a few of the Nameberry E-books (Best Boys, Best Girls & Off the Grid Names) and liked that they were easy to read and had a good selection of names. Basically they’ve hand picked some of the best names and given a more in depth description - kind of like the descriptions here on the site. I personally preferred the e-books more than ‘Beyond [name_f]Ava[/name_f] & [name_u]Aiden[/name_u]’, but that was because they are more about just the names, whereas ‘Beyond [name_f]Ava[/name_f] & [name_u]Aiden[/name_u]’ is better if you are also after naming advice.

[name_f]Hope[/name_f] that helps :slight_smile:

Another one for the [name_u]Baby[/name_u] Name [name_m]Wizard[/name_m], I love that the little name blurbs are objective, and I [name_u]LOVE[/name_u] names categorized by theme in name books (which is why I bought [name_f]Pam[/name_f] and [name_f]Linda[/name_f]'s “Beyond [name_f]Jennifer[/name_f] and [name_m]Jason[/name_m], [name_u]Madison[/name_u] and [name_u]Montana[/name_u]” as my very first name book).

I tend to get most of my name inspiration from language academy/ preservation/ governance sites, though. Name books are good, but only so many international names make it in to English language name books (which is all that’s available here).

So, it seems I’m definitely going to have to check out Mrs. Wattenberg’s book! Thanks for all these suggestions, ladies. :slight_smile:

@lucialucentum I agree, there isn’t enough diversity in name books as far as truly exotic and foreign names are concerned.
Which makes me wonder if there are any [name_f]Asian[/name_f]/Middle Eastern name books out there that have been translated into English?