Penguin Classic Baby Name Book: 2,000 Names from the World's Great Literature

From Library Journal
The Penguin Classic Baby Name Book is a secondary resource at best. Hamlin has authored other baby-name books, but in this case she uses a pseudonym. Here she compiles a quirky assortment of names drawn only from "Penguin Classics" publications. The information, given both in the name entries and in sidebars on such subjects as "German names," is concise and entertaining and includes lengthy descriptions of references to literary characters of the given name. The problem lies in the selection. The author does not understate the case when she says, "Not all these names are actually usable for a child." With such ugly ducklings as Baiardo (a legendary horse), Iago, Hecuba, and Topsy, this book would serve best as a pet-name book. Vivian Reed, California State Univ., Long Beach Copyright 2001 Reed Business Information, Inc.

From Booklist
If you never seem to have enough books in your baby names collection, here's one to add. Parents who use it might select Logistilla (a sorceress in Orlando Furioso) for their daughter or Arveragus (a knight in The Canterbury Tales) for their son. Or they might just stick with Mary and Bill. REVWR
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Book Description
Expectant parents poring over baby name books-usually tomes as large and as interesting as phone books-are looking for that special name with special meaning. A name with a legacy, a name for the ages. What better place for book-loving parents to look for the right name than in literature?

Elegantly written, easy to use, and delightful to read, The Penguin Classic Baby Name Book is divided into sections of boys' and girls' names. Entries include information on origin, meaning, variations, and most importantly, literary namesakes. Throughout the book are sidebars with mini essays about literary characters and naming trends, as well as pointed quotations from the books themselves.

About the Author
Grace Hamlin is a pseudonym of the author of several bestselling baby name books, as well as other books including a guide to manners for children. She is a graduate of Princeton, where she majored in comparative literature.


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Elegantly written, easy to use, and delightful to read, The Penguin Classic Baby Name Book is divided into sections of boy names and girl names; entries list names alphabetically and include information on origin and meaning, as well as variations and, most important, literary namesakes. In the entry for Julia (Latin, "youthful"), for example, we meet Jane Austen's Julia Bertram of Mansfield Park, two Trollope Julias of a "certain age," Wilkie Collins's strong-minded Lady Julia Verinder of The Moonstone, as well as a Juliana, a Yulia, a Julie -- Strindberg's "Miss" -- and Shakespeare's Juliet (who, of course, famously pondered, "What's in a name?"). Throughout the book are sidebars with mini essays about literary characters and naming trends, as well as pointed quotations from the books themselves. And there is an index of authors, if you want to name your son after Juliet's hotheaded cousin in Romeo and Juliet but can't remember his name.


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