Lives Up To Its Ridiculous Name
Written: Jul 28 '00
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Product Rating:
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Pros: comprehensive, well organized
Cons: a lot of very silly names
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| jcgrow's Full Review: The Very Best Baby Name Book In The Whole Wide Wor... |
Hyperbole for Parents
Bruce Lansky set himself up for a fall by entitling his book The Very Best Baby Name Book in the Whole Wide World, but I haven't been able to find any reason to disagree with him. There are a huge number of baby name list books out there, and I've found none to compete with his. Actually, I find his title to be kind of clever, knowing from first hand experience that every parent believes that their baby will be the very best baby in the whole wide world ever. (Just to set the record straight for all you other expectant parents out there, it's my baby who is the best ever. It's true - I saw it in the ultrasound!)
What You Want To Know
Picking a baby name can either be great fun or a great pain. My wife and I, schmaltzy as it sounds, picked out baby names with this book when we were first falling in love, far before she got pregnant. The organization of this book made it easy, telling us the things that we wanted to know in a format that was easy to pick our way through.
Boys' and girls' names are separated into two separate lists. If you've ever gone through a names encyclopedia, you know how much time this saves. Included in each listing is the meaning of each name and a sublist of common variations. Also, for the ethic-cleansing set, there's an indication of the ethic origin or each name.
The Extras
Like chocolate chips in vanilla ice cream, it's the extras that really make this book stand out from the crowd. Included are a foreword by Abagail Van Buren, a short list of factors to consider when naming a baby, a summary of name stereotypes (If you must name him Adolph, warn him never to grow a small mustache), a legal guide to baby naming, and most importantly a list of the 100 most popular boys' and girls' names for 1998 (separate lists are provided for African-American and Hispanic names). We found this list to be really helpful because we want our child to stand out from the crowd. Some like it popular, though, and in that case you can use the list to name your little lamb.
Just as no two babies look alike, no two baby name books read alike. Many are just fine, but this one is exceptionally well-birthed.
Epilogue
By the way, we've agreed on a pair of names for the baby on the way: Hannah if it's a girl, Emerson if it's a boy. We'll find out what the name will be in just a little bit over a month. Wish us luck!
Recommended:
Yes
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Epinions.com ID:
jcgrow
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Location: Trumansburg, New York, United States
Reviews written: 238
Trusted by: 50 members
About Me:
Editor of IrregularTimes.com, looking at the world at through an irregular lens.
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