Books I Have/Had:

• A is for Adam by Lorilee Craker-

I love this book! I'm a Christian and I enjoyed learning about these names. It doesn't at all include all Biblical names but it includes her faves, including popular and unpopular names, and several clever lists. It also includes short stories from parents who have chosen biblical names for their children and why they chose them. I would definitely suggest purchasing this book, especially if you're a Christian.

• Baby Names Now by Linda Rosenkrantz and Pamela Redmond Satran-

This was another really enjoyable book! It had TONS of names listed alphabetically but not just listed with their meaning and originan, they have actual descriptions and comments and such about each name. This book was last renewed in 2001 and you can tell because there are certain names in their that they casually mention that today are wildly popular, but I still suggest purchasing it :)

• Cool Names for Babies by Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz-

I have very different tastes from these ladies so I do have to mention that I don't totally agree with 100% of the things/suggestions they have in this book, but it's still a terrific read and has some very cool lists in it.

• The Secret Universe of Names by Roy Feinson-

I'm not going to lie, it's a pretty silly bogus book, but still very interesting to check out. I'm still currently plowing my way thru it (being an avid reader, I insist on reading books cover to cover, even baby name books! lol) so I'm not quite finished yet. I wouldn't suggest buying it because it's not quite worth its expensive price, but it would still be cool to take a peek at.

• The Dictionary of Bible Names by Pamela McQuade with Paul Kent-

I found this book several months ago when I was with my husband in a Christian bookstore, and it was on sale for $9 which I was totally happy about. It's VERY cool! It has all the names mentioned in the Bible (excluding word names in the Bible), where they can be found in the Bible, the meanings for MOST of the names though not all, if it was used for a man or a woman in the Bible, and how many different people in the Bible had this name. Even if you're not a Christian, it's still a really cool book to have! :)

• A is for Atticus by Lorilee Craker-

I adore this book! This is a book that has her favorite literary names for boys and girls, where they're from, and other comments on them. I definitely recommend purchasing it, especially if you're a reader :)

• Beyond Ava and Aidan by Linda Rosenkrantz and Pamela Redmond Satran-

Love this one! Once again, I don't totally agree with all of their opinions on names, but this book has lots of subjects and lists relating to names that were very fun to go thru and I highly recommend purchasing it :)

• The Baby Name Wizard by Laura Wattenberg-

This is another one that's worth the buy. This book includes LOADS of names there popularity for the year this book was written (2005 I believe), styles, variants, sister and brother names, and a short description, lots of the names. It also includes tons of lists including African-American names, Antique Charm Names, Jewish Names, New Classics, and tons of others.

• The Complete Book of Baby Names by Lesley Bolton-

Then only reason I like this books is because it has SO many names in it (100,000+) but it is EXTREMELY inaccurate, and I would suggest buying Rosenkrantz & Satran's Baby Name Bible instead of this one.

• The Baby Name Survey Book by Bruce Lansky-

My friend who works at Barnes and Noble got this book for me really cheap with her discount and I really loved it...however this is one of the books that I no longer have seeing as I lent it to someone several months ago and I don't remember who I lent it to and never got it back HAHAHA. Anyway, basically they just surveyed people on TONS of names and compiled the answers, which was cool and interesting for me however since I have a weird taste in names and am a weird person in general I disagree with a lot of the people's thoughts on those names, but it's still worth purchasing.

• 100,000+ Baby Names by Bruce Lansky-

This was the first baby name book I ever bought, I bought it in like 6th grade lol, then when it got ruined I bought the newer edition in like 9th or 10th grade, but no longer have it as I tore it apart in a fit of rage (which is quite funny since I'm a very nonviolent person and because, well, anybody tearing something apart in a fit of rage is amusing). It's similar to Bolton's the Complete Book of Baby Names but Lansky's is probably better.

• The Baby Name Bible by Pamela Rosenkrantz and Linda Redmond Satran-

A great book with 50,000+ names. What makes it different from the other baby name books with thousands of names in them is that they write a few sentences about each name after them. It's really great, because it made me look at names I typically might have glanced right over w/out a thought about them. However, I definitely disagree with the authors on lots of things (one of the main ones being that they pretty much want every single boy name to be a girls name) and there were lots of origin and meaning errors I found, but it's still definitely worth the read and/or buy.

• The Literary Baby Name Book by Tershia d'Elgin-

This book is really cool, as much of a historical book as baby name book, and filled with tons of literary info, and is definitely worth the read, especially if you're one of those rare baby name AND literary lover's. My one little ish about this book is that I've found a few mistakes, and I haven't even read the majority of the literary pieces that are mentioned in this book, so my guess is if I was able to catch a few mistakes from the few that I had read, there are probably others in there :/

• The Complete Book of Unusual names by Daniel David-

Oh dear, where to start with this book....well, the positive is that it's short enough if you had a free hour, you could easily finish it within that time frame, and that's about where the positives end. Being an oddball myself, I was able to easily recognize just by reading this book that the author is one of the weirdest people I've ever heard of. He starts of with an introduction that basically says that name meanings are "antiquated" and meaningless and ALL that matters is that the name sounds good to you. Now, I do agree that if the name sounds great to you, and others say it's ugly, it doesn't matter because you still love how it sounds. However, that is by FAR not the only reason why you should choose a name. As for meanings not being relevant anymore and being antiquated....MEANINGS ARE MEANINGS! That's what they MEAN in whatever language they originated from. If meanings don't matter, someone who's not English-speaking could go ahead and justify using Diarrhea as a name, because after all it's a beautiful word and the meaning doesn't matter!!!!! Now to the book itself, he also doesn't believe that names are every gender specific, so he lists hundreds of "unusual" names in alphabetical order, without the meaning and gender specificity of course, and under each name he gives a first-middle-last name combo so you can, I guess, get the feel of what that name would be like in a full name or something. Being someone who studies names alll daaay loong, I have the confidence in myself to say that only about 1% of the combos he used underneath each name even flowed well as a name combo (here are some examples of the terrible combos he came up with: Bora Bora Bronks, Obit T Jones, Pendleton Billington, Grenada Prascilla Portneda, etc...). As for the names themselves....once again maybe like 1% of them are even usable, and the others are ridiculous (Sin, Zipper, Gin, etc) and tons more are completely made up, which he will proudly confess to doing so since he's pro-made up names, because, of course, meanings to matter to him :/ I do appreciate all of the time and effort he had to have put into making this book, but I still do not at ALL recommend buying or even reading it :/

• Redneck Baby Names by Linda Barth-

This is a short, humorous baby name book that's more what I call a "bathroom book" (a book you keep for people to read while in the bathroom that's funny and easy to read) than an actual baby name book, but it IS hilarious and worth the read :)

• Cool Irish Names for Babies by Pamela Redmond Satran and Linda Rosenkrantz-

I loved this book! It's an easy and even somewhat aesthetically appealing read, that has TONS of cool facts and history on a wide variety of Irish names, and is an especially fun read if you have any Irish ancestry, which I do :) I did find a couple of small mistakes in the book, but it's still a great read and worth buying :)

• Beyond Jennifer & Jason, Madison & Montana by Linda Rosenkrantz and Pamela Redmond Satran-

This is the edition of Beyond Ava and Aiden that was right before, so it's from the late 90s and not very relevent to today's names, but since it's been a while since I read Beyond Ava and Aiden, I really enjoyed reading thru it!

• The Worst Baby Name Book Ever by David Narter-

This book is written by a man whose book before this one was a name book about not naming your child....and no, I don't mean a book about what names not to give your child, I mean about never giving them a name at all! Lol so either he's nuts, or he's joking; this book is very humourous, and basically takes classic names that everyone loves and gives reasons to hate them. Though this book is supposed to be a joke, I was kinda surprised, because some of the reasons that he gave to hate the names are the actual reasons why I personally dislike them! Lol. I wouldn't really suggest the read, tho it is amusing, because it's kinda perverted throughout and not the most wholesome read lol.

• Sci-Fi Baby Names by Robert Schnakenberg-

I loved it! I'm not really into much of anything sci-fi, but it was clever and fun and it gave me some new legit ideas for names. This book would, of course, especially be a good buy and read for those who are into sci-fi, but anyone could enjoy it!

• 5-Star Baby Name Advisor by Bruce Lansky-

This name is a pretty cool book; it takes lots of names and gives you a rating, its meaning, first impressions, gender associations, popularity and trend, risk of misspelling and mispronouncing, famous namesakes, common nicknames and variations, and other things to consider about the name. I think it's a cool buy, but if you're only getting one baby name book, I wouldn't suggest it; it's based entirely off of opinions that aren't your own, and it's a better book to use in addition to another one.

• The New Age Baby Name Book by Sue Browder-

This is a book that is just above average but overall worth having if you're a book collector. It approaches names from a spiritual/mystical point of view often, however that tends to entail zodiac which is something I can't personally appreciate. The first edition of this book was written in the 70s, "the age of Aquarius" and the copy I have is from the late 90s. Seeing as I read this in 2017, much of the book is outdated, and on top of that, some of the meanings/origins aren't accurate (one that stood out for me was Bella being an Old English name!). The author also praises invented names, in this case invented meaning names just formed from random sounds together without any actual m eaning, which is also something I can't appreciate. There were many names that I discovered and loved from this book and/or found fascinating including Abelia, Fiala, Levia, Lihua, Marganit, Quirina, and Ruri for girls, and Arkin, Brandeis, Donnan, Faxon, Hieu, Kelemen, Kuper, Loman, and Olery for boys.

• Classic Biblical Baby Names by Judith Tropea

This is a beautiful book that is a delight to have in general. I really appreciate the variety of names in this book, and that the author not only goes out of her way to include undiscovered gems that are off the beaten path, but also avoids a handful of names that have particularly strong negative associations. The main think I disliked about this book is that she seems to have pulled pronunciation names from thin air and the majority of them are very unreliable.

• Hello My Name Is... by Jeff, Truman, & Walker Bradley

This book was interestingly enough written by a father, Jeff, and his two sons, Truman and Walker. It contained fascinating lists (such as names of award winners, names of fugitives, names of athletes to specific sports, etc), and I really enjoyed it! I found a few mistakes, but overall it was a fun, accurate book definitely worth having!

• The Pocketbook Idiot's Guide to Baby Names by Sonia Weiss

Though not 100% accurate on EVERY page ;), I would definitely consider this a baby name book worth having!! Though it does have a small list of alphabetical names, this book's purpose is truly to guide you through the process of naming, and it goes into just about every detail that you could come across while trying to figure out the name for your baby! Much of the advice it gives are things I've personally mentioned to others many times before.

• Hawaiian Names English Names by Eileen M. Root

I didn't have especially high expectations for this Hawaiian name book written by a seemingly NOT Hawaiian author, but this book was EXCELLENT! Though its facts are outdated about non-Hawaiian names (it was written in 1987), it's extremely thorough about Hawaiian names, etymology, history, and the relationship between Hawaiian and non-Hawaiian names. I would definitely recommend it to any name lover!

• The Alternative Book of Baby Names by Cara Frost-Sharratt

I was very pleasantly surprised by this book! Not only did it have several new suggestions to me, but it also had a sweet, English tone to it (the author is from London). This is definitely one of my faves so far and one I'd highly recommend to name lovers!