Product Description

Yes, your baby’s perfect name is out there.
The trick is finding it.

The perfect baby name will speak to your heart, give your child a great start in life—and maybe even satisfy your relatives.  But you can't expect to just stumble on a name like that in an A to Z dictionary or on a trendy list.

That’s why you need The Baby Name Wizard. Created by a name-searching mom, it uses groundbreaking research and computer generated models to pinpoint each name’s image, examine its usage and popularity over the last 100 years, and suggest other promising ideas. A perfect guide to the modern world of names, The Baby Name Wizard will engage you from the first name you look up and keep you enchanted through your journey to the just-right name for your baby.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #1482 in Books
• Published on: 2005-02-08
• Released on: 2005-02-08
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 368 pages

From the Inside Flap

Why are there four little Olivias on your block? What kind of names would sound good with a brother named Dylan? Is George too old-fashioned? Is Dakota too weird? And why is Brianna now a more popular name for girls than Mary, Karen, and Margaret—combined?

The Baby Name Wizard is the first expert guide to helping you understand every aspect of a baby's name, from its image and history to nicknames and variants, as well as popularity and usage trends. The book's unique structure lets you start with one name you like and end up with a list of ideas tailored to your tastes. Each name has an entertaining buyer's guide–style entry to answer the questions:

• How popular is it? Each name is accompanied by a popularity graph so you can see where the name ranks among all boys' or girls' names and track its use over the last century.
•What else might I like? Look up any name and get a list of others with a matching style, including suggestions for boys and girls—ideal for sibling naming.
• How do people use it? Explore promising nicknames, international variations, and alternate spellings for each name.
•Where does it fit in? Learn about a name's distinctive style, from "Antique Charm" and "Old Testament" to "Brisk and Breezy" and "Nickname-Proof."
• How about even more ideas? To find out more about a name's image, turn to a full styles section and get longer lists of suggestions to spark your imagination.

Fun to browse and full of surprises, yet fact-filled and well organized, The Baby Name Wizard is destined to enchant.

About the Author
LAURA WATTENBERG is a writer, researcher, and software designer who developed the name analysis software after becoming frustrated in her search for names for her two daughters. She lives outside of Boston.

Customer Reviews

Disappointing
I was disappointed with this book. She includes a lot of information ... but completely leaves out the meanings of names! I'd have to have yet another baby name book on hand to complete what this author leaves out. I would recommend Bruce Lansky's Five-Star Baby Name Advisor instead, because he has all the information Wattenberg includes (minus sibling-name suggestions) plus meaning and how likely the name is to be spelled or pronounced incorrectly. Those are all good things for a parent to consider! Also, I realize name opinions are subjective, but I found myself disagreeing with quite a few of this author's; she seems to miss some pretty obvious drawbacks or associations with certain names, and has odd taste in names that she thinks *should* be used more often (Edgar? Really??).

The Book for naming your baby
My wife and I are having our first child - and have looked at several name books - had I read this one first - I would not have bought another book -

Interesting
Very interesting way to find a name. I didn't like the names that went with my son's name but still very neat. I would definitely recommend this!