This book takes a unique and almost scientific approach to names. It was really interesting! I enjoyed it a lot. It groups names into different categories and then uses these categories to essentially help you find your name style. Also if you find a name that you like, it will suggest 5 boys names that are similar in style and 5 girls names that are similar in style to it. It was fun. It doesn't have a billion names in it - but it was helpful and creative and a different take on naming your baby than I have seen in other "baby name" books. I recommend it.

Thoutful, but way too American,

Nice book with lots of advice, but its totally centered around American culture. If you are from a non English speaking country, like me, you will struggle to make sense of many of the recommendations.

This is the book that helped us find our daughter's name. I found the back section of the book the most helpful. This part sorted names by groups, making it a lot easier to narrow down from groups you clearly liked or didn't like. for instance, I learned that all the names I disliked we're mostly "bell tone" names, and I loved the "charms and graces."

This book is nothing like a normal shity naming book, you do not find the names in 20 different spelling therefor filling page after page of god knows how many names that all mean the same thing... Kerry, kerrie, kery... bla bla bla

Loved it and may have found one or two names I'm willing to go with, it's been hard seen as it needs to begin with a J :)

Uncanny how correct this book is in its prediction of "sibling names" and popularity ratings. I had a lot of fun perusing for several hours while a homework assignment got pushed to the back burner.

This was the first naming book I found to be very readable; my husband even picked it up for about fourminutes. (While I stared in shock with my mouth hanging open for an additional thirty seconds after he put it down.)

The first twenty pages were written by Captin Obvious with advice such as, "don't pick first/last names which rhyme." As if you would do that unknowingly... But there were some examples worth a snicker when considering variations of a name; Benjamin Dover will inevitably be called Ben Dover - a tireless joke for his future buddies.

The "Name Snapshots" were great. Beside each name, you could see common sibling names which were creepily acurate. These often lead to new favorites or mentioned names which were already favorites. There was also a line graph showing the name's popularity over the past century. (i.e. my parents' breaking the top 100 of the 60's then nearly disapearing in the 70's.) The other cool thing about the graphs was recognizing oncoming trends. Maybe my favorite names aren't very popular today, but the graphs show some of them increasing quickly.

The lists of "style families" were another good resource. You could look for names by geography, history, religion with lists such as ladies and gentlemen, brisk and breezy, celtic, bell tones, jewish, last names first, porch sitters, mythological, and even one called "why not?". Hubby vetoed my favorites from that list, Pinkie and Thor. (He said we're talking a person, not a dog.)

Still, I think the best thing you can do when picking a name is keep a fairly long list in a place where you'll see it every day. I've found some of my long-time favorites have lost their appeal just from seeing them daily and others have grown on me tremendously. Now I just need a book on how to get hubby liking something more interesting than John, Bob, Ann or Mary.

This is an especially good baby name book for those planning more than one child. When you look up a name, it gives you other names with a similar feel. It also gives you the popularity of the name over the past century -- important for those wanting to avoid overused names.

The way this book cross-references baby names by so many various categories is a fun way to approach baby-naming. I like how current this book is, as well. It is so right about Colorado! So many little Logan's and Ellas here.

I have probably read and pondered every name in this book and I still have not settled on a name for my yet-to-be-born baby boy. It's not the book's fault, but I think the book has sort of made the job of naming feel more complex than it has to be. Or maybe it is just the way I'm looking at things. If I stumble across a name I like, like "Miles" for example, then I read the description of "Miles": "Miles is a terrific choice if you're drawn to "elegant gentleman" names." (which I am) "It sounds strong, smooth and unflappabable." (great, great and pretty good, except maybe in the toddler years) "In fact this name has been quietly cool for a thousand years, never too common but never disappearing. In the U.S. the name is associated with the Mayflower pilgram Miles Standish, which adds a fashionable antique flavor." So, great, sounds like a winner to me. But then I look at the chart that depicts the name's popularity over the years. It looks like sort of a valley and then a very very steep mountain where it climbs sharply over the past few years to the number #231 spot. It looks like I'm not alone in my discovery of this great name. It looks like I'm just part of a big, faceless trend of pregnant people who all have the same ideas about things and the same vision of who their son is going to be. And maybe this is true. I realize Miles is not the most unique name on the planet. I even know of a few kids named Miles. But I hate the reminder that I am sort of a cliche, that my choices are not really my own, but a result of all these other cultural things that make up a big part of my identity. I also feel this way when I get really excited about a new drink at Starbucks.

So I don't know...this book has been really fun to read, but it has also sort of messed with my head and kind of ruined perfectly good names for me. I would recommend this book as a fun way to discover new names, but I would also advise all of those in charge of naming other human beings to listen to your heart and not a book when it comes to choosing a name.

I *loved* this book! It doesn't take up pages with 5 gazillion spelling variations of names (if you wanted to make up a new spelling, you could pretty much take it on as your own personal project, after all). Instead, it outlines the "personality" of a name as perceived by the author, graphs of the name's popularity in the past century, sister/brother names that people often link together (which are often spot on, I think), and lists in the back of types of names (Amy is a Surfer Sixties name; some of my favorites were the Porch Rockers, the old-fashioned ones like Evelyn, Eva, Harriet, etc.). LOVED it.

More helpful (and inspiring) than the other naming books I've read. The author is both funny and realistic; she lets the reader know when a name is truly flamboyant or lame or whatever it may be. The "top 5 tips" at the beginning were great; my partner and I are using them now as we negotiate.

We honestly had no idea what to name our second child, and this is the best name book because it lists names categorically--like we could look up our first son's name and see what names make good "brothers" (similar style).