Baby Name books

[FirstTimeMumAt36]

Hi everyone
This is my first pregnancy and my husband and I are realy stuggling with names. There is loadds of girl names that we both really like but we cant agree on any boys names.
Can anyone recommend a good book for us to look through for inspiration.

Thank you

Do they still even publish them?

If looking with a UK angle, then there is an 'Oxford book of...' (I had a copy of it many moons ago)

Agree with AuntieStella, I would go for the (Oxford) Dictionary of First Names -- it was compiled by a group of academic researchers specialising in names, so is more trustworthy than some of the name-books you'll find. Although it predominantly concerns 'English' names, there are sections on names from other sources too (e.g. French names, Italian names, Scandinavian names).

I find searching for British based baby websites the best and easiest way to search for names, plus they stay current, whereas books will always be out of date very quickly.
I recon maybe trying out a library, look at baby name books there for some ideas and inspiration.

Have a look at the lists published on ONS - all names given each year so give a good starting point!

Thanks for the suggestions. Ended up buying one off amazon. Now just to go through them all and seen if there is any that grab me!

Which one did you go for OP? and do you feel a book is any better than just trawling websites?

Beware of 'Irish' names beginning with K and J.

I'm currently writing a name book which I'm planning to publish for Kindle on Amazon- watch this space! (I'm doing a 'Celtic' names book first).

Am sorry, and I really, really don't want to be impolite, but I would not buy any book on 'Celtic' names - there's not really any such thing as 'Celtic' culture. Or 'Celtic' names.

Scottish, Irish, Welsh etc etc names (and local cultures) are all different; they are based on different branches of an ancient language and also reflect very different recent political/social influences and linguistic developments .

As previous posters have said, there is an excellent, comprehensive and scholarly book on first names already in existence : www.amazon.co.uk/Dictionary-First-Oxford-Paperback-Reference/dp/0198610602?tag=mumsnetforum-21
Compared wih that, most other books and websites containing 'Celtic' names have mistakes.

Use the ONS list it's great for looking at names

Amen to that, Florascotia.

Seeing that I'm Welsh, have Cornish heritage and am a frequent visitor to Brittany (coupled with the fact that I've studied etymology for many years) I'll carry on with my book- I'll not be asking you to read it!

PS I'm quite aware that there's no such thing as 'Celtic' names; that's merely an umbrella term as is covers all of the Celtic nations. Amazingly enough info have quite a bat knowledge on the subject. If you visited the InterCeltique festival in Lorient, as I do, you would realise there is still a strong connection between the nations, despite the obvious differences.

NB excuse the typos-should say I have quite a vast knowledge.