I’ve never yet seen a baby name book this bad. (And I’ve seen dozens, having studied name trends extensively in grad school.)

There are a great many made up names,–made up, I think, so that the author could list 50,001 as her name total. And the “definitions!” Yikes! Another reviewer wrote that the author seems to have made up the definitions, and this seems to be right. They don’t even agree with references ON the SAME PAGE. Rosalia is supposed to be Italian and mean “hanging roses,” while Rosalie, listed as English, is supposed to mean “striking dark beauty.” In her introduction, Stafford says you might not want to name your child Delilah after you find out it means “whimpering harlot guttersnipe.” No it doesn’t. Not even in her own book. What kind of dumb joke was that?

In addition to the made up names and imaginary definitions, there is no pronunciation guide. So I guess any way you want to say the nonsense names is fine.

If you were never a student of a language other than English, you might be fooled by the definitions, and if you want to choose your baby’s name(s) by the cute sounds, this is the book for you. By all means avoid it if the meaning of a name has some importance for you.

Although no reference book is perfect, try __Baby Names: A New Generation__ or __Aaron to Zoe__.

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