This Dictionary is part of the Oxford Reference Collection: using sustainable print-on-demand technology to make the acclaimed backlist of the Oxford Reference programme perennially available in hardback format. The fascinating and informative Dictionary of First Names covers over 6,000 names in common use in English, including the very newest names as well as traditional names. From Alice to Zanna and Adam to Zola this book will answer all your questions: it will tell you the age, origin, and meaning of the name, as well as how it has fared in terms of popularity, and who the famous fictional or historical bearers for the name have been. It covers alternative spellings, short forms and pet forms, and masculine and feminine forms, as well as help with pronunciation. The book includes extensive appendices covering names from languages including Scottish, Irish, French, German, Italian, Arabic, and Chinese names. Tables of the most popular names by year and by region are also included. From the traditional to the rare and unconventional, this book will tell you everything you need to know about names.

Uniquely compiled with the aid of computer speech-synthesis technology, this dictionary contains 23,000 entries, including frequently occurring or difficult-to-pronounce names of places worldwide that are currently in the news. Also covered are other important places, celebrities, political and historical figures, company and product names, biblical names, and literary references. Pronunciations appear both in a simplified respelling and in the phonetic symbols of the International Phonetic Alphabet. Entries include concise definitions that identify each proper name. For users from the casual to the scholarly. Annotation copyright by Book News, Inc., Portland, OR