The Last Word on First Names: The Definitive A-Z Guide to the Best and Worst in Baby Names by America's Leading Experts

by Linda Rosenkrantz, Pamela Redmond Satran

The authors of Beyond Jennifer & Jason , the bestseller that revolutionized baby naming, offer the last word on the perfect first name.

Hope is hot, Hortense is not-- at last, here's what parents really need to know before naming a baby.

For years you knew what to expect from a baby-name a long, dull list of names with their dictionary definitions. All that changed with Beyond Jennifer & Jason -- the groundbreaking book on styles and trends in baby names that has been called "the best baby-naming book ever written" ( The News Journal ).

Now Rosenkrantz and Satran return with an all-new baby-name guide that is destined to become a classic. Like other books, it's packed with entries on girls' and boys' names from A to Z, but no one else gives you the inside story on why the world has all the Ashleys it needs, why everyone loves Emily, and why you should or should not call your son Ishmael. Drawing on sources as diverse as ancient myths, current TV series, the Bible, and world literature, The Last Word on First Names is a readable, witty, and illuminating guide to the real-world meaning of Miranda, Max, and thousands of other names from Abigail to Zelig. No one should name a baby without this book.

Genres: Reference

322 pages, Mass Market Paperback

First published January 1, 1995

About the author

Linda Rosenkrantz is an American writer, known for her innovations in the realm of “nonfiction fiction,” most prominently in her novel Talk, a New York Review Books classic.

Reviews

[Kaitlyn · Rating 4 out of 5]

I like how it's split into pink pages for girls and blue pages for boys. Each name has a little blurb and it's fun to just open to a random page and see the names.

[Meredith Hooten · Rating 5 out of 5]

As a writer this is my go-to book for names. It gives such good information and such a wide variety of really good names