A comprehensive book of 12,000 names, including their meanings, origins, and spiritual significance, with a supporting Scripture for each.

A German-American woman copes with a pandemic, and her neighbors’ hostility during the Great War, in “a heart-rending story of endurance” (Historical Novel Society). Stuart, Nebraska is a long way from the battlefields of Western Europe, but it is not immune to the horrors of the first Great War for Peace. Like all communities, it has lost sons and daughters to the fighting, with many more giving themselves over to the hatred only war can engender. Set in 1918 in the farm country at the heart of America, The Meaning of Names is the story of an ordinary woman trying to raise a family during extraordinary times. Estranged from her parents because she married against their will, confronted with violence and prejudice against her people, and caught up in the midst of the worst plague the world has ever seen, Gerda Vogel, an American of German descent, must find the strength to keep her family safe from the effects of a war that threatens to consume the whole world. “Suddenly, ‘liberty cabbage’ replaces ‘sauerkraut’ on food menus, job advertisements warn ‘no krauts need apply,’ and neighbors demand the nearby university stop teaching courses in ‘that vile language’. . . . Shoemaker crafts eminently realistic characters; her descriptions of unreasonable fear and hatred are particularly effective.” —Publishers Weekly

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.

LOOKING FOR A NAME THAT MEANS SOMETHING SPECIAL TO YOU? Given the dizzying array of choices available, picking the right name for your baby can be daunting. Why waste hours looking through one long alphabetical list of names just to burn out even before you've run through A, B, and C? In this creative twist on the traditional name book, Baby Names Made Easy offers selections organized into categories of meaning, making it easier than ever to choose a name that is significant to you. Traditional or trendy, American in origin or from all over the globe, the names here cover an array of topics. For example, look under: Animals & Insects (and find "Naia" -- Hawaiian for "dolphin") Victory (and find "Vincent" -- Latin for "conquerer") Love & Affection (and find "Mia" -- Italian for "mine") Religion & Faith (and find "Dev" -- Sanskrit for "God") The book's handy alphabetical index makes cross-referencing easy, so you can find the perfect name in no time. Baby Names Made Easy is a practical and one-of-a-kind reference for anyone searching for the most important gift they can give their child.

Containing every biblical name and its Hebrew or Greek nuances, your own relationship with God will be enriched as you gain an in-depth understanding of their meanings.

In this handbook, scholars from around the world offer an up-to-date account of the state of the art in different areas of onomastics, in a format that is both useful to specialists in related fields and accessible to the general reader. Since Ancient Greece, names have been regarded as central to the study of language, and this has continued to be a major theme of both philosophical and linguistic enquiry throughout the history of Western thought. The investigation of name origins is more recent, as is the study of names in literature. Relatively new is the study of names in society, which draws on techniques from sociolinguistics and has gradually been gathering momentum over the last few decades. The structure of this volume reflects the emergence of the main branches of name studies, in roughly chronological order. The first Part focuses on name theory and outlines key issues about the role of names in language, focusing on grammar, meaning, and discourse. Parts II and III deal with the study of place-names and personal names respectively, while Part IV outlines contrasting approaches to the study of names in literature, with case studies from different languages and time periods. Part V explores the field of socio-onomastics, with chapters relating to the names of people, places, and commercial products. Part VI then examines the interdisciplinary nature of name studies, before the concluding Part presents a selection of animate and inanimate referents ranging from aircraft to animals, and explains the naming strategies adopted for them.

Comprehensive book of 12,000+ names, including their meanings, origins, and spiritual significance with supporting Scripture.