Reddit reviews The Baby Name Wizard, 2019 Revised 4th Edition: A Magical Method for Finding the Perfect Name for Your Baby

https://www.amazon.ca/Baby-Name-Wizard-Revised-3rd/dp/0770436471/ref=pd_lpo_sbs_14_t_1/143-2650797-1059622?_encoding=UTF8&psc=1&refRID=Y1P4W0R96QM7B6DSCH6V

My friend's, which I didn't steal...

I really liked this book: The Baby Name Wizard, Revised 3rd Edition: A Magical Method for Finding the Perfect Name for Your Baby https://www.amazon.com/dp/0770436471/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_.xvMybKP5A34J

It gives some interesting ways to categorize names too. Like if there is a nickname you both like, it'll help you find a name for the shortened version. Or if you both like names that are similar (girlier, short and sweet etc) you can look through the list of other names like that.

I'm not sure if you just want to complain (which is totally valid) or if you want actual advice, since we've struggled with names, too. If you just want to complain, ignore the next paragraph.

It's really hard for either of us to just generate a list of names we like, so we bought a book of baby names. We bought a dresser for the nursery that took forever to assemble (drawers were unassembled), so while one of us assembled the other would read through the book, and any name I/he didn't hate, we said out loud to the other person. If the other person didn't hate it either, it went on a long list that had about 40-50 names. We then separately made lists of 10-15 names that we liked best from the long list, and finally made a shorter list of names that we both had on our individual lists. We still haven't settled on a name, but we have it down to two!

I really like Oxford's A Dictionary of First Names. It's mostly a list, like your standard book, but with better research and helpful lists of variants, plus a bit of info on different name categories and trends with the history behind them.

Laura Wattenberg is one of my favourite more casual, commercial baby name writers. She focuses primarily on the cultural aspect and I find her book "The Baby Name Wizard" is more insightful than most. It's very cognizant of trends but not too judgey. However it's very much a theme/style-grouping kind of book. I like that it shows popularity charts for each of the names.

Neither of these is great for OP's purposes but I figure I'll throw it out there in case it's useful to someone else.