Book Review: Beyond Ava and Aiden

Well, I've said it before, and I'll say it again. I'm a baby naming freak. No really, it's ok, I am and I know it. I love baby names. I love day dreaming about names for my babies, even when I'm not pregnant. but when I am, I kick it into hyper-drive. I ordered this book about a week ago, and read it in a night and an afternoon. I loved it. And no, it's not just a long boring list of baby names and their origins and meanings. These guys do a much better job.

When I was pregnant with Ivan, I checked out a book from the library (written by the same authors) called Beyond Jennifer and Jason, Madison and Montana, What to Name Your Baby in the Twenty-First Century. I loved it too. It was all about trends in baby names. Not just what baby names were popular, but WHY they were popular. What names were fading out and why, what names were not cool yet, but on the verge of it. Different places where people get their ideas for baby names. And a whole lot more. And no, I didn't get Ivan's name from that book...but I feel like after reading it, I was more confident in choosing Ivan's name for him.

After reading that book, and liking it so much, I found out that there was a slightly newer book out by the same authors called "Cool Names for Babies" so I bought and read it also. I didn't like it as much as the other, because I didn't think it went into the whys and hows quite as deeply, but I still liked it alot. For those curious, here's a synopsis I found of "Cool Names":

The brand-new edition of Cool Names offers updated choices for parents in search of a cool name for their baby. The only name book ever published that includes neither John nor Mary, Cool Names helps parents navigate the range of coolness, from safe (Sophia and Sam) to as wild as you want to go (Andromeda, Alza, or Answer, anyone?), picks out the coolest recent celebrity baby names (Eden, Orson, Sullivan) and identifies the hottest new trends.

Now out in new editions in both the US and the UK, Cool Names includes fresh information on:

Trends--Accent on the vowel (Addison, Ethan); Naughty girls (Salome, Scarlett); Thunderbolt boys (Colt, Cade); Little Caesars (Magnus, Atticus) and many more
Newest Nature And Place Names (Slate, Sicily, Snow)

Names from Around the World --List after list of international names, including an Exoticizer to transform the familiar to the exotic.

Cool Middle And Nicknames

Updated Celebrity, Character And Starbaby Names

Anyways, when I found out I was pregnant again, naturally the first thing I started doing was making a list of baby names. :) I wanted to go back and read Beyond Jennifer and Jason...again but I couldn't remember who wrote it (my sister-in-law is borrowing my copy of "Cool Names" so I didn't have it to look off of). While doing a Google search (what would we do without Google, really?) to find the authors, I discovered that shortly after Ivan was born they had published a new and updated book, Beyond Ava and Aiden. Of course, I had to have it. And here are a few exerpts, interesting things, and of course baby names that I like. (And YES, in case you are wondering, I underlined things I liked (not just names) in the BABY NAMES BOOK so I could go back and find them later. I told you, just call me Super Freak!)

"Each list is supported by the kind of information today's smart baby namer craves: where trends come from and where they're going. What psychologists say about the effect of unusual names and how much a name influences a child's chance of success. Whether unisex names work as well for boys as for girls, and what you should know about nicknames, middle names, and sibling names." In the margine I wrote, "Probably why I like this book"

"...what they're looking for is a name that's not neccessarily unique, but not bizarre either, recognizable but not too popular or trendy, a name that will individualize their child but not create problems or embarrassment for him or her down the road."

"A study of a thousand pairs of twin sisters, for example, showed that girls with more androgynous names, e.g., Alex, are twice as likely to study math and science when they get older as their sisters with more conventionally feminine names like Isabella, while another study showed that girls with frillier names were more likely to go into more traditionally feminine fields, such as nursing or teaching." I'm not 100% sold on that, but it's an interesting idea to keep in mind.

"For many the quest for novelty and creativity is coupled with a search for personal meaning, embracing family history and ethnic identity. And lots of the most exciting and appealing new names can be found by digging into your own past or cultural background." Sounds about right to me. :)

"Conceiving your child may have made you feel, more than any other step you've taken together, as if you had finally and truly become one. Choosing its name can remind you that, nope, you're still actually two." Ha Ha! So true.

I also thought it would be fun to include all the catergories that the names of our little family fall under.

Aaron: A+ Names, No-Nickname Names, Biblical Boys, and Mixed-Marriage Names

Krystal: Low-class Names (yup that's the only one)

Lincoln: Vintage Chic, Vintage Starbabies, Lifetime Warranty, Presidential Power, Last Names First, All-Boy Classics, and Metrodude Names

Ivan: Metrodude Names (he's only in here once too)

And now on to the part you've all been dying to read...names that I like. I would like to preface this by saying that I realize that some of these names are out of the question due to they way it does not fit with our last name, the way it does not fit with the names of our other children, or they way Aaron would never pick it. But I still like them all the same. And some of them will work really well, and Aaron does like, so I'll let you all try to decide which are which. :) It's more fun that way.

Girl Names (I had a REALLY hard time picking girls names that I liked, do you think that's a sign?)

Lexi
Macey
Avi
Nike (yes like the shoe, but she was a Greek goddess first)
Abra
Oakley
Adelia
Hadley
Nora

Boys Names (These are never hard)

Arthur
Magnus
Sullivan
Asher
Ezra
Isaac
Jonah
Atticus
Talmage
Noah
Abel
Ajax
Atlas
Angus (hmmm, do you think I like A names?)
Levi
Phineas
Liam
Cyrus
Emerson

And these are just first names. I have a whole different list of middles, depending on which first we pick. :)

**Although, as an afterthought I thought I should probably add, the Aaron and I are already about 95.5% decided on a name for a girl and for a boy. We're getting better at this :)**