Billed on its cover as "the complete companion to tracing your name's history", the lexicographer John Ayto's new book is a little masterpiece of economy with a strongly populist slant: the surnames of footballers David Beckham and Wayne Rooney, and the film star George Clooney all feature prominently in the promotional blurb. Ayto has followed such distinguished predecessors in onomastics as Dictionary of Surnames (Hanks and Hodges, 1988) with a clear and accessible reference work. His Encyclopedia is aimed at a wide audience, of generalists as well as genealogists -albeit an Anglophone one, with a focus on the British Isles.
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