Synopses & Reviews
Celebrates American names of every stripe, color and variety, highlighting the most amusing, fascinating and arcane. It features popular first names, common surnames (by national origin) and gossip on celebrities who've changed their names. The strangest, funniest, most descriptive or imaginative names parents have given their children are included plus realistic guidelines for naming your newborn. An entire chapter is devoted to placenames--towns, counties and cities in the U.S.--with the most common, strangest, and difficult to pronounce as well as local legends about town names. You'll also find information on names of tropical storms, shortest and longest movie titles, song titles, pet names, how authors name their characters and much more.
Description
Includes bibliographical references (p. 291-296) and index.
Table of Contents
THE NAMES PEOPLE GIVE THEIR DEFENSELESS CHILDREN.
Choosing Names for Girls.
Choosing Names for Boys.
Fads and Fancies in Bestowing (or Inflicting) Names.
Choosing a Name for Your Baby.
THE NAMES WE INHERIT.
The Names That Most of Us Answer to.
Changing Surnames.
Professionals Who Changed Their Names.
A Chapter for the Smiths, Johnsons, and Changs.
Surnames and Genealogy.
Some Jewish Family Names.
Names of African-Americans.
Names from the British Isles.
The National Origins of Some of Our Surnames.
Some Other Sources of Surnames.
Wonderful People with Strange-Sounding Names.
WE NAME ALMOST EVERY PLACE WE KNOW.
The Continents and the States.
How Places Get Their Names.
Whimsy and Humor.
Naming in the Wilds.
Improper (?) Names.
On the Big Apple and Smaller Apples.
This Is a Lovely Little Town, Wasn't It?
Changing Times, Changing Names.
STILL MORE OF THESE AND A FEW OF THOSE.
Still More of These.
....and a Few of Those.
Bibliography.
Index.