Conference taveng::bagels

194.0. "Hebrew Names -- Recommended Book" by PBSVAX::COOPER (Topher Cooper) Thu Sep 18 1986 17:12

RE: notes 139 and 155.

I've been playing the name-game recently.  I found a book I would highly
recommend.

    The Complete Dictionary of English and Hebrew First Names

	by Alfred J. Kolatch

	Published by Jonathan David Publishers, Inc.
	ISBN 0-8246-0295-1 ($19.95)

I highly recommend this book.  Not only is it a good book on Hebrew names,
it is far and away the best and most scholarly "name book" I've seen
(why doesn't this surprise me).

From the dust jacket:

    This is a thoroughly revamped and greatly enlarged version of _The
    Name Dictionary_, published in 1967 [Still available for about half
    the price].  While both volumes contain modern English [actually
    "American" from many sources] and Hebrew names together with an
    analysis of their meanings and origins, and while both provide a wide
    variety of names for those seeking to name a newborn child, the present
    volume contains more than four times as many entries as the earlier one
    [as well as more extensive indexes, notes on naming customs, etc.].

    Included among the more than 11,000 main entries in this dictionary
    are a large number of biblical names that are suitable for use today,
    plus practically every Hebrew first name in use in Israel today.  These
    biblical and modern Hebrew names have been transliterated into English,
    and for those who can read Hebrew and are eager to know the correct
    Hebrew spelling and exact pronunciation of these names, the Hebrew
    script is provided immediately following each main entry.

    Since there are many who, after choosing an English name for a child,
    would like to select a Hebrew name with the same meaning, a Hebrew Name
    Vocabulary is included in a separate section following the ... main
    entries.  In this section one can find transliterated Hebrew (and
    Yiddish) names grouped according to meaning...


		    Topher