There are lots of "baby name" books on the market, usually separated into boys names and girls names and arranged alphabetically with a small notation as to the etymology of each name, a brief meaning and maybe a short list of famous people who share the name arranged next to each entry. These usually catalog all of the familiar names, the Susans, Williams, Marys and Roberts with a few Lucretias and Bartholomews thrown in for good measure. Mostly these books contain standard fare and are useful tools for naming babies. This name book can be used in the same way as these books but is mainly intended for the purpose of choosing a magical name.

In my religion of Wicca people often (though not always) choose an alternate name for themselves or have one bestowed upon them or both. These special names are called Magical names or Craft names. Different traditions of Wicca use magical names for different purposes according to their tradition's emphasis but nearly all of them use the Craft name to help create an awareness of magical intent in themselves and in others participating with them in ritual. It is like wearing a special robe or using a special altar cloth or chalice or anything else that people do to create sacred space. For some people it is a symbol of a rebirth as a spiritual person or it describes religious intent or aspects a person might wish to incorporate into their magical workings or into their personalities. Sometimes it describes attributes or strengths with which a person wishes to identify or incorporate more fully into their lives. Sometimes like in Native American tradition the community may choose the magical name for the person based on a special event or milestone in the person's magical life. Sometimes magical names are chosen strictly for the dramatic and/or romantic atmosphere they create. Some people have magical names that are kept secret and are known only to the individual, a practice which harkens a long way back in history and has to do with the belief that a person's name holds the power of a person's spirit. Some feel that control of the name yields control over the person. Some people have one Craft name that they use in community and also have another name, for example a warrior name which they might use in ritual if they are fighting negative influences. Some people receive their Craft name as part of their initiation into the Craft or the religion of Wicca. Most people choose their own name or receive it from Deity or their own Higher Self during a meditation experience. Some Craft names are chosen to honor a certain god or goddess or totem animal or a certain period of one's own development. Some are chosen using the art of Numerology. For western pagans naming oneself in accordance with the principles or poetry of one's own life is a way of reclaiming the very essence of naming, especially in a culture where a person's first name or given name is also known as that person's Christian name.

The problem Wiccans run into just like one that a lot of parents face when naming a new baby is that when they are trying to choose a magical name they find that many names are very over-used and have become so commonplace that the power of their meanings and the sense of uniqueness is lost. I can't tell you how many Hernes and Rowans and Moonstars and Cerridwens I've met at festivals and other public rituals.

This book, written by a Wiccan priestess from British Columbia is a very helpful tool in solving that problem although you'd never know it by reading the author's name of Phoenix, a name you'd probably hear at any large pagan gathering.

This book is not arranged the way a standard baby name book is arranged. As the author says in the preface, "There are no A-Z listings of names. So don't expect to be able to look up a particular name--you won't find it, except by accident. I did it this way to force you to look at names differently, to allow the magic to come forth." While this is quite useful as the author intended in creating an environment where the unconscious or subconscious mind is given a greater hand in the selection of a name than the conscious mind it can be a bit irritating if you already have a name in mind and are just trying to discover its meaning or etymology.

This book presents several essays about the nomenclature of many different historical periods and cultures as well as names from literature, mythology and the natural world of plants, animals, and minerals. Grouped with the various essays are alphabetical lists of names that go along with the topic of the essay. There is an interesting section on the many different traditional methods of naming. The table of contents is a rough guide to where you can find a certain type of name however this can be confusing. For example if you want a Welsh name you might look in the list of English, Welsh, and Anglo-Saxon Boys names but this list is not broken down and also there are perfectly good Welsh names elsewhere in the book where the Celtic Tree Alphabet is discussed. The book is also inconsistent in the amount of attention that is given to the meanings for the various names listed. For example the spice names each have several sentences of meaning or even a short paragraph while the definition for Medea found under the heading of Magical Names from Distant Circles offers this rather useless meaning: "Part Goddess, part sorceress". I don't find this book particularly user friendly for this reason. I have on occasion found myself having to research other sources just to define names from this book that have caught my attention.

Here is a sample partial list of the categories of names that you will find sprinkled around in this book and not all of them are shown in the table of contents or the index:
Old English or Anglo-Saxon, Current names with Ancient Viking Roots, Norman names, Patronymic names, Place Names, Location names, trade names, 14th and 15th century nicknames, Puritan names, 19th century Romantic era names, Victorian flower, gemstone and bird names, names from Arabia, Armenia, Basque, Burma, Cambodia, Norway, Kenya, North American Indian, Names of Mythical Places, Greek, Latin, Celtic/Gaelic, Teutonic, Discordian and or Unusual Magical Names, names from literature (these are mostly from Sci-Fi or fantasy literature.) I found the lists of names from literature that are arranged under the title of the book in which they are found only marginally useful since no meanings are ascribed to the names so unless you have actually read the book from whence they come you will know nothing of the name's meaning.

As well as names you will also find suggestions for crafting a naming ritual. There are several suggested guided meditations for use in discovering one's name. There is a section on selecting a name for a coven or group. There is even a very good section on names for tools or other sacred Craft objects such as one's ritual blade or athame or broom, sword or stang. There is a pronunciation guide and an index for names by characteristic like Moon/star names, luck, power, protection, purification, maiden, crone, self-esteem, sobriety, Water, Fire, wisdom, etc.

In the margins of many of the pages there are little snippets of historical information, or humorous stories of a particular name or quotations or passages from literature. While these are nearly all interesting or entertaining I found them to be somewhat distracting. In fact the very arrangement of this entire book is quite distracting. It is quite a hodge-podge...but I think the author really does like it that way. For a person whose intent it is to find his or her own personal Craft or magical name, someone who might very well wish to immerse him or herself in the act of naming itself, someone with the desire and the time to really shop around for a name I think this book is quite excellent. As a simple reference guide for names it is not as desirable.

This book is very helpful if you happen to be interested in the subject of names because it does offer lots of insight into the history and culture of naming. It is very good for unclogging the creativity blocks that often cause us to choose cliché names. For this reason it is a helpful book to be used for choosing baby names or names for household pets or magical familiars such as cats as well as its intended use for choosing Craft names.

The book has an impressive bibliography and is well written in a friendly conversational style. While I do take issue with a name book of only 288 pages including its index being called The Complete Book of... I do think this book is probably as complete as anyone in search of a Magical name could hope to find or need. ( )

I use this book when I'm trying to come up with character names in my stories. The only down fall is the index; it is broken down by section and it would be more helpful if it was comprehensive. ( )