Name Book - Over 10,000 Names--Their Meanings, Origins, and Spiritual Significance: Insights and Perspectives from Leading Practitioners

Loads of names. Fun looking through and finding new and unusual names

Super Namensbuch mit der Bedeutung und Herkunft der Namen. Ich habe alle Namen für meinen Sohn hieraus gewählt. Kann ich nur empfehlen für Eltern, die internationale Namen schätzen . Sehr gutes Buch

We are in love with this book, so much more in depth than other books we have purchased. Great tool, our church uses it to make a plaque for each child born in our church and it's great as we really put a lot of stock in to the meaning of the name for us to use it for our children. Also great when doing up a gift/birthday card for someone to put their verse and name meaning inside.

My mom had the original edition of this book years ago. She would use it to make name certificates for new babies at church, include it with encouraging words to friends, etc. I bought a copy when I was expecting my first baby and it is still something I go back and refer to when getting name meanings for friends. I bought a second Kindle version so I would always have it on hand. (It's also great if you are into Biblical dream interpretation, sometimes a person in your dream is a symbol for something and knowing the meaning of the name is helpful.) Each name is listed with the most prevalent spelling first followed by variations of the name. The cultural or language origin is listed as well as the literal meaning of the name. The next part is where this book stands out from the other name books. The spiritual connotation of the name is then listed along with a verse that the author felt illustrated that characteristic. For example, the name Blaine is a Gaelic name with the variations Blain, Blane, and Blayne listed. The literal meaning is Lean. The author has interpreted the spiritual connotation as "Trusting," one who trusts in God regardless of the circumstances. Isaiah 42:16 NRSV is given as a key verse. "I will turn the darkness before them into light, the rough places into level ground . . . I will not forsake them." The original book had an appendix in the back with a listing of men and women's names only. I don't see this in the second edition which I have on Kindle. It does have a listing of Biblical names. In both editions, there is a page listing birthstones and flowers by month, and places to write down your favorite names. The original version of this book had predominantly European and Latin with some Native American names. Comparing my old print version with this latest edition on my Kindle, it appears to have more Asian, Middle Eastern, and African name meanings than the first. Also in this edition that wasn't in the other is an outline for a family tree where you can write down names for four generations on each of the Mother and Father's side. Which is kind of cool. The one thing that is a little difficult is when someone has a name that has a weird spelling or variation of a name. The names are listed alphabetically by the most common spelling, so you have to think which one it would be listed under. Regarding some other comments: You can't look up names by meanings. That is true, but with the Kindle version you can always do a search and find them. The names aren't separated by boy and girl names: Maybe because all three of my girls have names that were originally masculine that are now considered "gender neutral," I don't see it as that big of a deal. I bought three books on names before my first child was born. One was the mega-book of the time. This is the only one out of the three that not only do I still have, but that I still use.

Names are so much more than a surface identification. This book digs a lot deeper than that, while being brief and to the point, thus making meaning an enjoyable and graspable concept for each name. There is a Judeo-Christian orientation, and biblical allusions and contexts are provided for each name with multiple phonetic resonances provided, which are flexible, so if you're looking for a particular name, the book engages creative faculties by giving a pointer to the grammatical root of the name, without being overtly scientific or systematic in approach. A good, inspiring energy.