THIS BOOK IS A VERY GOOD DESCRIPTION OF,OF THE RELATION OF US WITH GOD. YOU ARE AMAZED OF HOW THE AUTHOR HAS GONE THROUGH THE FEELINGS AND IT MAKES THEM SEEM AS BEING TRUE. ONE CAN FEEL AS LIVING IN THE SITUATION. WE ARE LOOKING FORWARD TO THE OTHER BOOK. YOU BETTER EXPECT THAT OTHER BOOK , # 6 TO COME OUT AND THEN START READING THE OTHERS, BECAUSE IF NOT YOU ARE GOING TO REMAIN WITH THE FEELING OF BEING UNCOMPLETED. BUT DON'T LEAVE IT WITHOUT READING IT. YOU WILL LOOSE?!

I have often found need for this book. It gives detailed etymologies of names, of famous persons bearing the name, and cross-references different forms of the name (as nick, male/female, and other languages). A name book done up as a proper reference book. It also has sections on Hindi/Indian and Muslim/Arabic names.

Head and shoulders above all other name books I have seen. Well researched and extremely thorough.

Hanks and Hodges are real scholars, who however communicate their information clearly and intelligibly. I cannot see any obvious need for a CONCISE version of their *Dictionary of First Names*, first published by Oxford University Press in 1990 and regularly reprinted. That book is only just over 400 pages, so by no means too long. It is the longer version which I personally regularly use for my research - mostly in Renaissance literature - and I have found it an excellent source of reference. Those looking for names for their children, too, or wanting information about their own names, will rarely be disappointed. You find out readily what a name means, what its derivation is, who have been famous bearers of it, etc. Wonderful for browsing, apart from anything else! I also often use David Pickering's *Penguin Dictionary of First Names*, which is similarly useful, but which Amazon does not appear to supply. (A matter of copyright restrictions?) - Joost Daalder, Professor of English, Flinders University (South Australia)

Most books on names are written by people with no qualifications other than they can collect lists and reprint them. Not so with this book!

Although the authors are British, and there is a bit of bias towards names used in the U.K. it is well researched. They could have double-checked US sources a little more when commenting on its use as a US name. Yet, this only means that they wrote what they knew to be true rather than making wild uninformed guesses. For instance, they suspect that "Oprah" was a form of Orpah but without being completely sure they only list it as a supposition and attribute it's existance in the US to Oprah Winfrey. Their linguistically inspired guess was correct! Oprah has mentioned in an interview that her name was a typo of Orpah. Not having this obscure information, the authors did the responsible thing.

In fact, they deferred to consultants for the appendices for cultures they were not familiar with.

This book is great for students of onomastics, parents and authors.

This is a wonderful book, lively and enthusiastic. Unlike other name guides, it focuses on the cultural and linguistic roots of the name, rather than the fluffily mystic (astrological and so forth.) In addition to the original meaning of the name and variations over time, it also lists prominent historical or mythological bearers of the name, such as saints, kings, or heroes. The appendices, with names and their original meanings from Russian, Arabic, French, German, and so forth, are an added bonus. If you like words, or just like to peek at the secret roots of everyday things, buy this book. Great fun.

Bad quality and wrong definitions. Authors obviously lacking elementary knowledge. Not worth wasting time and money.

Poorly written Many mistakes - hope nobody plan to use it for studying