Greatpilgrim's Full Review: Geoffrey Johnson - O'Baby: The Irish Baby Name Boo...
Ethnic names are very popular today, and for a beautiful, uncommon Irish name, O’Baby delivers perfectly. I couldn’t ask for a better collection of Irish names.
O’Baby: The Irish Baby Name Book is just that – an Irish baby name book, and its spectacular lineup of very original names may indeed make you shout “O baby!” Written by Geoffrey Johnson, this book provides a number of pure Celtic names, and it’s easy to see that they’re authentic.
I bought this book several months ago and I'm still very happy with it. Admittedly, you have to like these types of names in order to like this book. However, I think anybody who goes in for unusual nomers will fall head over heels for “O'Baby!”
The names
There’s a good mixture of uncommon and normal names in this book; you can find both unusual and ordinary Irish names, although the unusual ones outweigh the ordinary! Sometimes the title name will have an Anglicized version after it; or the title name might be an Anglicized name, and will include the more authentic Irish version. Either way, you often have two or three variations of a name, which gives you some options. If you tremble at the thought of pronouncing Meadhbh, never fear! Right after each Irish name is a phonetic spelling, and this is a blessing!
O’Baby doesn’t say how many names are included in the book, but I’d say altogether there are between 500 and 1000. This may not sound like a lot, but for Irish names, it’s plenty! There are some very beautiful choices here that I had never heard before, and plan to use in my stories.
Information
Every name in O’Baby has at least a sentence or two about it, and many have a whole paragraph on the name. These facts about each name are generally interesting and informative, and even a wee bit education; I never knew half as much about the Irish before I read this book!
Format
Here’s a sample entry:
Gael m. (gale) Popular legend holds that Gael was the original ancestor from whom the Gaelic peoples descended. To a modern ear, the name is eqully suitable as a girl’s name.
The font and overall setup of the names is very reader-friendly, and like here at Epinions, there are spaces between each paragraph or entry. It was a pleasant book to read, both for the format and for the content. Some of these baby name
Chapter by chapter
The first ten chapters have 10-30 names in each one, and their meanings all have to do with the theme of the chapter. So the first chapter, “Little Dark One,” has names with meanings that all relate to dark hair or eyes or other dark features. The other chapters are on “The Fairest of Them All,” “Little Red One,” “Radiant Child,” “A Celtic Menagerie,” “The Green Isle,” “The Fighting Irish,” “Wednesday’s Child,” “Banshee,” and “Fancies.”
Then Chapter Eleven has name equivalents, so if you want to find the Irish version of a name, like Margaret, you’ll see that the Irish name is Mairéad. Likewise, if you want to name your son after your Great-Uncle Cainneach but you hate that name, you can look it up in this chapter and find “Charles” as its equivalent. Whew!
The next chapter, “A to Z,” simply lists lots of different Celtic names alphabetically. And finally, the last chapter is a calendar of saints, so that you can find the saint’s day that is the same as your due date and name your baby after the saint. This is not only a help to Catholics and other saint-conscious parents, but as a quick reference to some really incredible names. There’s also an index at the back of the book for looking up a name quickly.
Price
You really can’t get much lower than this for a good quality name book! O’Baby costs $5.99 at Barnes and Noble, and is under $5 at Amazon.
Usefulness
Parents looking for bubble-gum, all American names like Kayla and Jordan will not find this book helpful at all. But I can see a lot of parents who like unusual names finding O’Baby a great resource, even if they’re ethnic background isn’t Irish or Celtic. You’re bound to discover at least a few names you like in here, and if by some strange coincidence you don’t, then at least the book was enjoyable to read!
Authors will also love this book, as it has tons of never-before-used names waiting to be featured in your next novel. The format of the book makes it very easy to find the meaning that you want, whether you’re a soon-to-be parent or a writer; I know as a fiction writer myself, I like to name my characters with a meaning that somehow corresponds to their appearance or situation. I might name a brunette character “Lara,” which means dark-haired. This book makes my job there a whole lot easier.
I was really impressed overall with O’Baby, and I would definitely recommend that potential parents give it a look at the bookstore or library. You might just find “THE NAME”!
Ireland is famous for its beauty, its magic--and its lyrical names. This one-of-a-kind baby name book offers hundreds of choices for parents-to-be. Fr...More at Buy.com Marketplaces
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