Penguin Book of Hindu Names Reprint
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List Price: $27.95 $22.05 $ 5.90 ( 21% ) Penguin Books India Maneka Gandhi
Binding: PaperbackEAN: 9780140128413ISBN: 0140128417Label: Penguin Books IndiaManufacturer: Penguin Books IndiaNumber Of Pages: 520Publication Date: 2001-01-01Publisher: Penguin Books IndiaRelease Date: 2001-01-01Studio: Penguin Books India
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Editorial Reviews:
Spotlight customer reviews: Customer Rating: Summary: Great book, if you're willing to work at itComment: Many of the critiques about this book are unfair given that it is a scholarly work, not really a baby name book. However, many, like myself, will buy it for the latter purpose. You cannot find a more complete book of Hindu names anywhere else, including the Internet. Additionally, there are pronunciations included which are very helpful to someone not living in India. As long as you are willing to work to find a good name, this book is an excellent resource.Customer Rating: Summary: Usefull but time consumingComment: Well, I guess I would agree to most of the reviews so far that this book is not listed by gender, a lot of names are those you wouldprobably never name your baby and so on. BUT the important thing is it this book is unique and if you take the time and effort to find a name that you like then it is worth the effort. Afterall you are interested in all but ONE name for the baby.
Customer Rating: Summary: Great collection of names; but poor book for baby namesComment: This is a great piece of scholarly work -- a vast compilation of Hindu names. But if you're looking for a source of unique baby names, this book will frustrate you a lot.Other reviewers have already highlighted the user un-friendliness of the book ... small font, mixing of gender, confusing Sanskrit classical spelling -- with all of which I agree. So I'll elaborate on the names themselves.
After going through more than 20,000 names in this book, I doubt if you will 'yield' more than 50 names of either gender that would serve as unique names for your baby. The book gives no consideration to whether the name is for a human, whether it is acceptable, and whether it is pronounceable. For example, who in the right mind would name their son Sadaparibhuta (always in fear), or their daughter Dakini (a witch)?! And would you really want a long name like Mahasahasrapramardini?! The book is filled with such mythological names, so the acceptable ones are needles in the haystack.
However, to be fair to Maneka Gandhi, she has never touted this as a source of names for your baby. Her introduction does make it clear that she just intended this to be a work of scholarship. It is the readers who are construing this to be a book of baby names.
Customer Rating: Summary: Great bookComment: We wanted a short, lyrical sanskrit name for our baby - which also should mean something special.Customer Rating: Summary: worth it!Comment: I was surprised to see the bad reviews for this book. This book is a collection of names in alphabetical order. Unfortunately it is not seperated gender-wise. I bought this book when I was expecting my second son. I wanted a name which went well with my first son's and I must say the book served its purpose. There are a lot of names from the epics, but you can ignore them (if you are not interested). It is just a vast collection of names. Please note that it takes a few days and a lot of patience to go through those 20,000 names.
