I apologize if I gave the impression that I am knowledgeable about this field. My academic interest in names is merely an offshoot of my growing research interest in mathematical aspects of history in general and history of movement of people across the globe in particular; as part of which I am just embarking on some new statistical analysis techniques to find possible deep connections between the world's languages. I won't lie: at a cultural level I was always interested in names, culture, history, but never, prior to now, enough to start research in this field; nor did I have the opportunity. My main contribution to this board has been based on my erstwhile fluency in Sanskrit and my training to take a critical look at hypotheses, not on any specific knowledge in this field.
So, I do not know the literature specifically about names, and am ill-qualified to provide suggestions. From what I have seen, Maneka Gandhi's book seems more accurate than most others. But you do have to read an `errors and omissions excepted' at the end ...
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