Diane Stafford

I picked this book up used, on a whim, from my college's used bookstore section, and I just love it. Now, I'm not pregnant nor am I expecting to be pregnant any time soon, but that doesn't matter with this book- it's fun to have regardless.

With my friends, I've spent hours flipping through the goofy lists in the front half of the book: "Names for Future Lawyers," "Names for Future Mechanics," "Old Fashioned Names That Are Cute Again," "Names That Will make Your Child Popular", and so on and so forth. We'll laugh at the appropriateness of some names to their list, and argue about which ones aren't, and it can be a great conversation starter. We'll also have a blast going into the back and looking at the origins and meanings for some of the more out there names like "Sparkle" which is apparently American in origin and means "Shiny."

However, it proved most useful to me during my time as a "literacy coach" at a summer camp here in Boston. I'd pull this book out, gather up my students around me, and we'd go through, learning each other's names, meanings, and origins. For the rest of the week, kids of all ages would be seeking me out asking "Can we look up my mom's name?" and "My best friend is named Latisha, what does that mean?" It was a great way for my students to engage with language, and get them curious about the deeper meaning behind things- very few of them had ever realized that their name might mean something other than "Hey, you there!"

In short, although I could never have imagined how I'd use it at the time, this book was an excellent find. I can't say whether I'd recommend it to new mothers or not, but for writers and teachers of any kind, I think it would be a great choice.… (más)