All Those Wonderful NamesEver wonder what the most popular and unpopular baby names are? And how certain people and places got their names? Or are you just looking for guidance in choosing your child’s name? ALL THOSE WONDERFUL NAMES is an amusing exploration of names, familiar words, phrases, and the stories behind their origins. From the common to the confounding, this book has it all. Hear the true stories behind the naming of tropical storms, cars, fictitious characters, major league baseball teams, and more. Find out the real names of celebrities, such as Elton John, Cher, Rip Torn, Cary Grant, Liberace, and Conway Twitty. Discover counties, towns, and cities with strange names like Difficult, Tennessee; Jiggs, Nevada; Virgin, Utah; and Bosom, Wyoming. Learn unusual names for newborns—and perhaps the origin of your own surname as well. |
Contents
| 5 | |
Choosing Names for Boys | |
Fads and Fancies in Bestowing or Inflicting Names | |
The Ups and Downs of Jane and the Rise and Fall of Irene | |
Were You Born in the 1950s? | |
The Troubles of | |
Choosing a Name for Your Baby | |
The Names We Inherit | |
Wonderful People with StrangeSounding Names | |
PART | |
The Continents and the States | |
How Places Get Their Names | |
Whimsy and Humor | |
Naming in the Wilds | |
Improper ? Names | |
On the Big Apple and Smaller Apples | |
America Entered the War and the Muellers Became Millers | |
Some Jewish Family Names | |
Names of AfricanAmericans | |
Names from the British Isles Those Good Old English Names | |
The National Origins of Some of Our Surnames | |
Some Other Sources of Surnames Misleading Surnames | |
This Is a Lovely Little Town Wasnt | |
Changing Times Changing Names | |
Still More of These Early Automobiles | |
and a Few of Those | |
Bibliography | |