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It is also good for making sure your character names match nationality. This is a good resource for coming up with good and different names for characters in your writing or even gaming.
Other than that, this is a very useful tool for any writer. I just wish that last section what a bit beefier, rather than putting the main emphasis on ethnic origin, but that's just me. This is indeed a very through reference aid, breaking names down by their ethnic origins. It also includes a year-by-year listing of popular baby names, an alphabetical index of all the names, as well as names listed by what their names mean.
I don't fall into that category, so the book didn't work for me. There are a few extras, such as published writers telling you how they create names, but I found that information moderately helpful at best.If you want to create names from the same pool of information that other writers are drawing from, and you're not uncomfortable with that, then this book should work for you. I returned it. Almost all of the information in this book can be found on the internet. What sets this book apart is that the author has done the job of collecting and collating data for you, even creating a reverse index in the back of the book by "trait".
It replaced my baby names book immediately. Mighty handy, says I.You will not be disappointed in this book for any reason. Of course name meanings and a bit of linguistics is included with each new section.
Why do you need another one. Scattered throughout the book are highlighted sections with author interviews on how they decide on their character names, and these prove to be a reasonable and insightful break from research. Okay, so there's more writing book than you can shake your pen at.
(If you're going to get distracted, might as well be beneficial, right). Happy writing and buy with confidence. Actually, this book is really quite handy.
It has names listed by country and origin, and it is exhaustive in its listings, both male and female and even the unexpected is covered such as Latin, Armenian, and even Scottish names (thank goodness, cause that's what I needed).
In short, I was just expecting more out of this book. Both books give a short introduction to naming practices and culture, though Melting Pot also speaks about immigration. I wanted it to be more in depth about the actual naming process. Its a little deceiving, in my opinion. After that though, it is basically a baby name book. I'd heard such good things about this book, that I could hardly wait to get it.
I wanted to see examples from literature. The Sourcebook does give a small section on surnames, which is helpful but not exactly worth buying the book over. Well I got it finally, and I'm sorry to say I'm a little disappointed.I thought I was getting more than a baby name book. In fact, its a lot like the Melting Pot Book of Baby Names, which also divides names by country. As it should be really classified as a hardbound baby name book for authors. I was hoping it would delve into the psychology of names, why certain names evoke heroic characters and others always point out the sinister.
There was a short opening at the beginning that speaks a little about those things.
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