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General Books

Ashley, Leonard R.N. What's in a Name? Everything You Wanted to Know. (Baltimore, MD: Genealogical Publishing Company, 1989) A fascinating and very readable book that is chock-full of information about almost every aspect of given names and surnames.

Croom, Emily Anne. Unpuzzling Your Past: A Basic Guide to Genealogy. (Cincinnati, OH: Betterway Books, 1995) This book is a wonderful resource guide for a number of topics on family research, and has a chapter devoted to names.

Hazen, Barbara Shook. Last, First, Middle and Nick: All About Names. (Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall Publishers, 1979) A good book for students.

Kaplan, Justin and Anne Bernays. The Language of Names: What We Call Ourselves and Why It Matters. (New York: Simon and Schuster, 1997)

Melzer, Milton. A Book About Names. (New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, 1984) An interesting book for young people written by a wonderful author.

Train, John (compiler and annotator). Remarkable Names of Real People. (New York: Clarkson N. Potter, 1977) A fun book for readers of any age, this book includes such names as Buncha Love, T. Hee, and Sir Cloudley Shovel.

Wolfman, Ira. Do People Grow on Family Trees? Genealogy for Kids and Other Beginners. (New York: Workman Publishing, 1991) A wonderful book for young people, with a section on names of all kinds.

Surnames

Lee, Mary Price, and Richard S. Lee. Last Names First. (Philadelphia, PA: The Westminster Press, 1985) Another interesting book for young people.

Reaney, P.H. A Dictionary of British Surnames. (London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1970)

Redmonds, George. Surnames and Genealogy: A New Approach. (Boston, MA: New England Historic Genealogical Society, 1997) A fascinating book about English surnames and their origins. Includes a large appendix of surnames discussed.

First Names

Austin, Dorthea. The Name Book: Over Ten Thousand Names and their Meanings, Origins, and Spiritual Significance. (Minneapolis, MN: Bethany House Publishers, 1997)

Dunkling, Leslie and William Gosling. The New American Dictionary of Baby Names. (New York: Signet Books, 1985) Includes information on the history of first names, their meanings, social significance, and popularity now and in the past.

Ellefson, Connie Lockhart. The Melting Pot Book of Baby Names 2nd edition (Cincinnati, OH: Betterway Books, 1990) Includes information on over ten thousand names, with their pronunciations and meanings. Names from 50 countries are represented, including Native American names, with some background on the country, along with boys and girls names of that country (and how to pronounce them). Also includes a list of ethnic organizations, and a helpful name equivalent chart, that helps you to match up names that are similar in different countries.

Hanks, Patrick and Flavia Hodges. A Concise Dictionary of First Names (New York: Oxford University Press, 1997)

Kolatch, Alfred J. The Jonathan David Dictionary of First Names. (Middle Village, NY: Jonathan David Publishers, 1980) Describes the interesting and funny ways that people got their names.

African or African American Names

Asante, Molefi Kete. The Book of African Names (Trenton, NJ: Africa World Press, 1991)

Mason, Tyra, and Sam Chekwas. Baby Names: Real Names with Real Meanings for African Children. (New York: Seaburn Publishers, 1997)

Stewart, Julia. 1001 African Names: First and Last Names From the African Continent. (New York: Citadel Press, 1996). Includes information on African geography, history, literature and anthropology.

Hispanic/Latino Names

Woods, Richard D. Hispanic First Names: A Comprehensive Dictionary of Two Hundred and Fifty Years of Mexican-American Usage. (Westport, CT: Greenwood Press, 1984) Includes name entries, an introduction discussing Mexican-American names, a glossary and bibliography.

Irish Names

Coughlan, Peg. Irish Names for Children. (Boulder, CO: Mercier Press, Irish American Book Company, 1998)

Flanagan, Laurence. Favorite Irish Names for Children. (Dublin, Ireland: Gill and Macmillan, Ltd, 1993) This book includes notes on the origin and meaning of Irish names, as well as listing the top two hundred Irish names.

Kelly, Captain Patrick. Irish Family Names with Origins, Meanings, Clans, Arms, Crests and Mottoes. (Chicago, IL: Kelly Publishers, 1939; republished by the Gale Research Company, 1976).

Sierra, Judy. Celtic Baby Names: Traditional First Names From Ireland, Scotland, Wales, Brittany, Cornwall and the Isle of Man. (Eugene, OR: Folkprint Publishers, 1997)