Beyond Jennifer and Jason, Madison and Montana : What to Name Your Baby Now

by Linda Rosenkrantz and Pamela Redmond Satran

• ISBN13: 9780312199708
• ISBN10: 0312199708
• Edition: 3rd
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 1999-07-02
• Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin

Summary

The book all new babies want their parents to read--now with the latest predictions, inspiration, and advice. "In the decade since we've begun writing about names, the world of baby-nbaming has mushroomed from a sleepy little enterprise, with parents naming their children Jennifer and Jason and wondering whether there might be anything more exciting out there, to an adventurous and intelligent and style-conscious activity in which parents investigate everything from their family trees to names from their ancestors' native lands to atlases and even dictionaries that are ever more inventive, individual, and enlightened." --Linda RosenkrantzandPamela Redmond Satran No one knows baby names like these two experts--whose first bookBeyond Jennifer & Jasonpredicted back in 1988 that then-obscure place names like Madison were "so far out they're on their way in" (They were right too: By 1998, Jennifer had gone from #4 in popularity to #24 and Madison had become the ninth most popular name for baby girls). This is the guide that tells you what you really need to know: which names are hot, which names are not, and which names are on their way up or down. Who cares if "Cameron" means "crooked nose" in ancient Scottish Gaelic? If you love the name, you want to know whether it's still as right for a boy as for a girl, and if there are going to be five other Camerons in your child's class at school. The brand-new edition of thie groundbreaking book gives you thousands of new choices and the kind of knolwedgeable guidance you won't find anywhere else. There are all-new sections, with all-new research, on naming a girl and naming a boy today, as well as fresh insights into the power of a name to influence your child's life, and lists of the most important styles and trends: Gender bending--names that defy old stereotypes Ethnic names--vastly expanded multicultural options to reflect almost any heritage Celebrity baby names--the most comprehensive up-to-date listing of who's naming their baby what What's hot now--plus The Classics: Sixty Traditional Names that Transcend Time

Table of Contents

Acknowledgments	p. xv
Introduction	p. 1
Style
What's Hot	p. 8
The Century Names	p. 9
The Surname Names	p. 11
Hero Surname Names	p. 15
Imports	p. 16
The Brits and the Celts	p. 20
Place Names	p. 22
Comfy Names	p. 25
Good Girls	p. 27
Names in Bloom	p. 28
Biblical Boys	p. 29
The Irish Rogues	p. 30
Riddle of the Middle	p. 32
A Garden of Roses	p. 36
So Far Out They're in	p. 36
Word Names	p. 37
Nature Names	p. 38
Day Names	p. 40
Postvirtue Names	p. 41
Profession Names	p. 43
Word Names	p. 44
Endangered Species	p. 45
Mythological Names	p. 48
A Girl Named Boy	p. 52
So Far in They're Out	p. 56
But I've Always Adored Amanda	p. 59
Fashion Limbo	p. 61
So Far Out They'll Probably Always Be Out	p. 65
Popularity
The 100 Most Popular Names For 1998	p. 72
Pop Spellings	p. 80
Meganame	p. 82
Regional Flavor	p. 82
Southern Belles and Beaus	p. 83
Western Cowboys	p. 85
New England Names	p. 86
What the Rest of the World Is Doing	p. 87
England and Wales	p. 88
Scotland	p. 89
Norway	p. 89
The Netherlands	p. 90
France	p. 91
Good-bye, Dick; Good-bye, Jane	p. 91
Starbabies	p. 93
Boys' Names for Girls	p. 96
Comfy Names	p. 96
Imports	p. 97
Place Names	p. 99
Century Names	p. 99
Biblical Names	p. 100
Last Names First	p. 101
Nature Names	p. 103
Classics	p. 103
Exotic, Unusual, Unique	p. 104
And the Others	p. 106
TV Reception	p. 108
Disney World	p. 117
There's Only One Uma	p. 121
Much Ado About Naming	p. 123
Brit Lit	p. 127
Image
What's Really in a Name?	p. 136
The Classics	p. 140
Unusual Names	p. 162
Why Briyana Spells Trouble	p. 166
Creative Names	p. 169
No-Nonsense Names	p. 173
The Nickname Game	p. 176
Short and Sweet	p. 178
No-Nickname Names	p. 181
Fitting In/Standing Out	p. 184
Class	p. 187
Yuppie Names	p. 192
Royal Names	p. 195
Sex
Naming a Daughter	p. 202
Feminissima Names	p. 204
Feminine Names	p. 206
No-Frills Names	p. 211
Naming a Son	p. 214
All-Boy Names	p. 218
The Two-Syllable Solution	p. 220
Unisex Names	p. 221
The True Unisex Names	p. 224
Boys to Girls	p. 225
The Girls Are Winning	p. 227
Androgynous Starbabies	p. 228
Tradition
A Concise History of American Baby-Naming	p. 234
Colonial Period and Eighteenth Century	p. 234
Nineteenth Century	p. 238
Twentieth Century	p. 240
African-American Names: History and Traditions	p. 249
Popular African-American Names	p. 257
Muslim/Arabic Names	p. 262
African Names	p. 265
Names From Across the Ocean	p. 268
Celtic Names	p. 268
Scottish Names	p. 269
Irish Names	p. 271
Welsh Names	p. 273
Dutch Names	p. 275
French Names	p. 277
German Names	p. 281
Greek Names	p. 284
Italian Names	p. 286
Scandinavian Names	p. 288
Slavic Names	p. 292
Spanish Names	p. 296
Variazioni on a Theme	p. 302
Jewish Names	p. 307
The Kosher Curve	p. 309
Hebrew and Israeli Names	p. 310
Conan, Patron Saint of Late-Night TV	p. 315
Some Celtic Saints	p. 320
Family
You Say Maria, I Say Mariah	p. 326
Family Names	p. 330
Putting the Name Before the Baby	p. 333
Bad Advice?	p. 333
Baby, Jr	p. 335
Some Juniors Who Made Names for Themselves	p. 338
Sibling Names (for First-Time Parents Also)	p. 339
Double Trouble	p. 343
Whose Name is it, Anyway?	p. 344
The Name Becomes the Child	p. 346
Index	p. 351
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