From Aaron to Zoe: 15,000 Great Baby Names

Before becoming a dad (well, I will be one in October), if you paid to me I would have never guessed I'd be reading a book on this topic today, but you see: here I am, browsing through a handful of books off of the shelves looking for ideas. Here's our case: my wife and I wanted to name our baby with a beautiful name (how original, huh?) that is not repeated anywhere near (family and close friends) and that plays well both ways, in English AND Spanish without anyone needing to twist their mouths to pronounce it.When I read the title of the book I felt dragged into it: Zoe is the name of the baby girl of one of my friends and a name which I've always considered beautiful (heard it in a song by Lenny Kravitz for the first time), yet not too widespread. I had a chance to check out this book and found it to be one of the two best among books of baby names. What I liked most about it was how complete the description for each of the names was. It included the name, current language (where it comes from), ethnicity, meaning, biblical citation (if any), popularity, nicknames, alternative spellings and more. In the end, it doesn't offer 20 or 30 thousand names like most titles, but "only" 15 thousand. When you read it, it feels like the authors did a quality work in putting them together, proof once again that quantity doesn't necessarily imply quality. Also worth considering is "A World of Baby Names".

I found reading through "From Aaron to Zoe" to be refreshing. Finally a baby namer book that makes some sense and allows new parents to know some real background about their child's name.. This is a must for parents and will be a wonderful present.

Mr. Richman has outdone himself in "From Aaron to Zoe : 15,000 Great Baby Names". The book is thorough and about as complete as one could ever need in helping to choose a name for one's baby. It was a real joy to read the background on each name. I believe Richman's book can be enjoyed by anyone with an interest in names as his style is easy to read while the text is deep in content. A must

My husband's name is Aaron. Our first grandchild, Jesse, was not able to say Zaidy so he called him Zoe.Our third grandson's name is Daniel. Our fifth grandsons name is Bram,a form of Avram.Our last name is Richmond.Part of the family spells Richmond as Richman. What an unusual coincidence. By the way,the book is lovely.

As a writer constantly in search of unusual names, I have thumbed the pages of more baby name books than I want to think about. Until recently, my only real help came from a book that was printed in 1967. Now that poor, bedraggled thing can sit serenly on the shelf while this one gets the workout. _From Aaron to Zoe_ has not only the most varied listing of names I've ever seen in a modern book, but the finest presentation as well. The 15,000 names are listed by language/ethnicity; popularity (broken down by decade); general meanings; occupations and, finally, the traditional listings that include current and original language or ethnicity, meanings, namesakes, current popularity, nicknames and alternative spellings. Whatever my need, this book meets it.