Pamela Redmond Satran (born April 10, 1953), now known as Pamela Redmond, is an American entrepreneur and author of fiction and nonfiction. Her novel ''Younger,'' published in 2005, is the basis for a TV series of the same name created by Darren Star and starring

Sutton Foster Sutton Lenore Foster (born March 18, 1975) is an American actress, singer and dancer. She is known for her work on the Broadway stage, for which she has won the Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical twice, in 2002 for her role as Millie Dill ...

and

Hilary Duff Hilary Erhard Duff (born September 28, 1987) is an American actress and singer. She is the recipient of various accolades, including seven Nickelodeon Kids' Choice Awards, four Teen Choice Awards and two Young Artist Awards. She began her acti ...

. An expert on English personal naming, Satran is the CEO of the naming website Nameberry.

Life and career

Personal life and education

Raised in

Norwood, New Jersey Norwood is a borough in Bergen County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. As of the 2010 United States census, the borough's population was 5,711,University of Wisconsin–Madison A university () is an educational institution, institution of higher education, higher (or Tertiary education, tertiary) education and research which awards academic degrees in several Discipline (academia), academic disciplines. Universities ty ...

, where she was arts editor of ''

The Daily Cardinal ''The Daily Cardinal'' is a student newspaper that serves the University of Wisconsin–Madison community. One of the oldest student newspapers in the country, it began publishing on Monday, April 4, 1892. The newspaper is financially and editoria ...

''. After college, she moved to Brooklyn and worked as a fashion editor at '' Glamour'' magazine in New York and later as a fashion features editor. Satran lived

Montclair, New Jersey Montclair () is a township in Essex County in the U.S. state of New Jersey. Situated on the cliffs of the Watchung Mountains, Montclair is a wealthy and diverse commuter town and suburb of New York City within the New York metropolitan area. As ...

from the 1980s until 2015, when she moved to Los Angeles. In the 1990s Satran lived in

Hampstead Hampstead () is an area in London, which lies northwest of Charing Cross, and extends from Watling Street, the A5 road (Roman Watling Street) to Hampstead Heath, a large, hilly expanse of parkland. The area forms the northwest part of the Lon ...

, London. While there, she coauthored books on naming in England and Ireland. In the late 1990s, Satran lived with her family in

Berkeley, California Berkeley ( ) is a city on the eastern shore of San Francisco Bay in northern Alameda County, California, United States. It is named after the 18th-century Irish bishop and philosopher George Berkeley. It borders the cities of Oakland and Emer ...

, where she studied novel writing with

Elizabeth George Susan Elizabeth George (born February 26, 1949) is an American writer of mystery novels set in Great Britain. She is best known for a series of novels featuring Inspector Thomas Lynley. The 21st book in the series appeared in January 2022. T ...

and Ann Packer. Satran is divorced and is the mother of three children.

Naming books and related endeavors

Satran left ''Glamour'' to co-author ''Beyond Jennifer & Jason'' (1988), a book analyzing style, image, and trends in personal naming, with

Linda Rosenkrantz Linda Rosenkrantz (born May 26, 1934) is an American writer, known for her innovations in the realm of “nonfiction fiction,” most prominently in her novel ''Talk'', a New York Review Books classic. Life and career Linda Rosenkrantz was b ...

. The pair went on to write ten books on the subject, including ''The Baby Name Bible'' and ''Cool Names''. In 2008, seeing that information about names had migrated from books to the Internet, Satran and Rosenkrantz founded Nameberry, now the world's largest baby name website with a database of over 70,000 names, thematic naming lists, a daily blog, and forums for name searchers and enthusiasts.

Fiction

Satran writes novels that explore women's lives and issues from a contemporary and historical perspective. Her first novel, ''The Man I Should Have Married,'' published in 2003, focuses on a woman retracing the decisions of her life and correcting her mistakes. Her 2005 novel ''Younger,'' about a woman in her forties who pretends to be in her twenties to get an entry-level job, is the basis for a TV show of the same name. The show, which debuted on

TVLand TV Land is an American pay television channel owned by Paramount Global through its networks division. Originally a spinoff of Nick at Nite consisting exclusively of classic television shows, the channel now airs a combination of recent and cl ...

on March 31, 2015, stars

Debi Mazar Deborah Anne Mazar Corcos (; born August 13, 1964) is an American actress and television personality, known for playing sharp-tongued women. She began her career with supporting roles in ''Goodfellas'' (1990), '' Little Man Tate'' (1991) and ''S ...

, and

Miriam Shor Miriam Shor (born July 25, 1971) is an American actress. She is known for her performance in the rock musical ''Hedwig and the Angry Inch (musical), Hedwig and the Angry Inch'' and in the Hedwig and the Angry Inch (film), 2001 film adaptation of ...

. Satran's 2012 novel, ''The Possibility of You'', is inspired by the story of her Irish grandmother moving to the United States in the early 20th century and examines the lives of three women grappling with unplanned pregnancies at three key moments in U.S. history.

Bibliography

Novels

* ''The Man I Should Have Married'' (2003) * ''Younger'' (2005) * ''Suburbanistas'' (2006) * ''The Home for Wayward Supermodels'' (2007) * ''Babes in Captivity'' (2010) * ''The Possibility of You'' (2012) * ''Older'' (2020)

Humor books

* ''1000 Ways to be a Slightly Better Woman'' (2008) * ''How Not to Act Old'' (2009) * ''Rabid: Are You Crazy About Your Dog or Just Crazy?'' (2012)

Name books (with Linda Rosenkrantz)

* ''Beyond Jennifer & Jason'' (2006) * ''Cool Names for Babies'' (2008) * ''The Baby Name Bible'' (2011)

Other nonfiction

* ''Dressing Smart'' (1990) * ''30 Things Every Woman Should Have & Should Know by the Time She’s 30'' (2012)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Satran, Pamela Redmond Living people 21st-century American novelists American women novelists 21st-century American women writers People from Montclair, New Jersey Place of birth missing (living people) People from Norwood, New Jersey University of Wisconsin–Madison alumni Novelists from New Jersey 20th-century American writers 20th-century American women writers 1953 births