Thank you, thank you to everyone who took the time to offer suggestions for the 2nd edition of The Baby Name Wizard! When I wrote the original book I was inventing the format as I went along, trying to create the kind of reference I wanted for naming my own children. It's amazing now to have it out in the world and to hear what works -- and better yet, have a chance to improve on it for a second round.
The overwhelming message in your comments is PRONUNCIATIONS, so I've put that at the top of my work list. The Literary/Artistic style category is a go, too, and I've noted down some of the specific name suggestions. I'm happy to say that many of the requests (including new entries for names like Miley, Cohen, Harper and more) were already in the works. And quite a few of the requested items, including a Scandinavian name section, are already in the current edition!
One major suggestion won't make it in though, and I'd like to explain why. A few readers asked for name meanings and origins; several more said not to bother. As for me, I could bore you for hours with my thoughts on "meanings and origins," the stuff of traditional name dictionaries. For instance, I think it's a mistake to consider a name's linguistic origin to be its "meaning" at all. But delving into the history of names can be absolutely fascinating, so I'm not surprised that some readers miss that information in my book. I don't routinely include it for a couple of reasons.
First off, that material is already covered thoroughly and expertly in many other books. I've recommended the The Oxford Dictionary of First Names here before, and I'll add Cleveland Evans' Great Big Book of Baby Names
as another excellent reference. Quality books like these devote a full paragraph to explaining the derivation and history of each name. Which brings me to point #2...
...it would mean adding the equivalent of a whole extra book! And BNW is already two books to start with. Never noticed that? Open the book some time and check out how teensy-weensy the print is in the name snapshots. Or how the name lists in the style sections are printed in five single-spaced columns, compared to the typical two double-spaced. Basically, each half of BNW is a book in itself. It took a heroic effort on the book designer's part to squeeze my mega-manuscript into an affordable-sized volume. (And now they have to find room for pronunciations!)
My approach to name origins has always been to describe them when they're particularly noteworthy or when they're relevant to a name's appeal. I'll expand on that somewhat for the 2nd edition, but etymology buffs will still want a good dictionary at hand, too.
And a final note to the readers who found the book's binding to be its weakest feature, literally. Yep, at least one early print run had glue that didn't bear up well under the constant flip-flip-flipping that The Baby Name Wizard endures. My apologies. From what I've heard later printings upgraded the glue, so with any luck the 2nd edition will be a book you can love without loving it to death.
译文:
很荣幸接受提问
谢谢,谢谢大家能花时间来给第二版《婴儿起名向导》提供建议.当我写这本书第一版的时候我就一直沿用这种格式,设法写出一本当我给小孩起名时可以作参考的书.现在这本书已问世并让人听说它是多么令人惊奇, 更令人高兴的是,现在有个机会可以为了第二版而作修改.
在你们的建议中,最主要的是读音部分,我已经将此做为改进日程中的首要点.同样文字及著作风格也是需要改进, 我已经注意到一些关于特殊名字的建议.我很荣幸地告诉大家, 很多要求已经体现在著作中(包含新名字,如Miley,Cohen, Harper或更多). 及相当一些被提出的条目,包含北欧一带起名部分,都已经在新版本中.
在此版本中没有将一个重要的建议吸取,在此我要解释下原因. 少数一些读者要求体现名字意义及起源; 多数人认为不必受此影响. 在此花几个小时跟大家分享下我对"意义及起源"的想法,传统名字起源字典.目前,把姓名的语言起源完全等同于姓名意义,我认为是一个误区.但钻研于起名历史会是绝对令人着魔的,所以我也不奇怪一些读者不想在我的书中漏掉这一信息.不过我也不会为了一些原因而例行公事地将此内容包括在书中.
首先,那些资料已经在很多其他专业书中包含.在此之前我已经推荐<第一个名字牛津辞典>,现在我将增加Clevland Evan的<婴儿起名大全>做为另外一本优秀的参考书.有很多优秀的书花大幅篇章解释每个姓名的历史及起源,这些都给了我启示。
意味着添加另外一本书的相同内容！ BNW已经有两本这样的书。从来没有注意到吗？有时打开书，发现很小很小的印迹就是那些名字的简短描述。与两倍行距的样式相比，或者在五个单倍行距专栏列出名字更有风格。基本上，每一半的BNW本身就是一本书。对于在设计将我庞大的手稿压缩为可承受的容量真的是一个壮举。（现在他们必须为发音部分再找一些位置！）
当他们特别重要或他们与起名要求相关时，我就会谈到名字起源。我将会在第2版本补充一些，但是语源家手上也是需要一本好词典。
最后要解释一点给发现这本书最大弱点的读者，关于语言上面。是的，至少一点，早期的《婴儿起名向导》印刷本无法很好地承受不断翻阅。很抱歉，但我已听说后面的印刷本已经更新了，所以很幸运，第2版本将会是一本你可以喜爱而不是因喜爱而使他坏掉的书。