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May 10th, 2010
03:58 PM ET
Did you name your baby Bella?
Or, perhaps, we’re simply searching for a reason to explain why anyone would name their son Cullen. Either way - whether it’s the parents who have been reading too much “Twilight” or the employees at the Social Security Administration - there’s no denying that the name Cullen did see the biggest jump in popularity on the list of 2009’s most popular baby names for boys. There's only one other popular figure with that name, and that's Edward Cullen.
Likewise, Bella Swan’s full name, Isabella, also wound up on more birth certificates last year, making it the most popular baby name for girls in 2009. If it’s true that parents look at their newborn children and for whatever reason, think of pop culture, that would explain why Emma – the name "Friends" characters Ross and Rachel gave their daughter on the NBC series – jumped to the top 10 in 2002 and was in the No. 1 spot before being bumped to No. 2 this year by an awkward teenager with supernatural love fetishes. A name that has yet to crack the top 10 but is on its way up is Isla, likely inspired by popular actress Isla Fisher, the Social Security Administration said. The name saw the second fastest rise among girls, following Maliyah, a variation on President Obama’s oldest daughter’s name, Malia. A name on the way down, however, is Miley – as in Cyrus, the SSA points out. A variation of the name, Mylee, also saw a significant drop in popularity and is the second biggest decrease for the gender in 2009. Let’s hope baby name popularity doesn’t foreshadow one’s career.
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Parents have to draw their inspiration for baby names from somewhere, so why not a novel about vegetarian vampires?
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Eh, I survived having the same name as a soap opera character and a Disney mouse growing up 🙂 I get asked more often if I was named for Mick Jagger's ex.......
Two years ago, before my husband and I go married. We talked about names, Isabella and Edward made our top list. Then six months later my friend handed me a Twilight book and I groaned. I still like the names and will still use them, but it gets old trying to defend and say 'no, I picked them out BEFORE I knew about Twilight!'
Oh NO! I was going to name my dog Bella, but now I know there will be so many other Bellas in her obedience class – it will be so confusing. And when I call her, maybe lots of other dogs will come. This is just awful!
Seriously, people, name your children after something other than celebrities and pop culture. Remember, that's going to be the name that sticks with them for their entire lives!
And, really, Twilight? I hate Twilight. Go read a real book. May I suggest Harry Potter? That's some good literature right there. Stunning.
Just a point to make, Stephanie Meyers named the character "Isabella 'Bella' Swann" because it was the name she said she would have chosen to give to her own daughter if she ever had a daughter (she only has boys). You can read this little fact in one of the Twilight books (I forget which one). SO for all of you dingbat parents saying your baby girl's name was "stolen" for the book – eh, wrong.
I like Bella but I despise Twilight. I'm sorry. Vampires do NOT "sparkle". Burst into flames? Maybe. Sparkle? Heck no. Also, people, do not assume someone names their child after a famous person/thing/event. Actually don't assume anything at all.
Not that anyone will be reading this far down, but...
Malia is Spanish for "bad girl."
I named my daughter Isabella Marie (same as the Twilight character) BEFORE the books were ever released. While it is not so great that it has become so trendy, it wasn't completely original when we named her Isabella...It seems there has always been another Isabella around her age in school We have always called her Bella and Izzy...we love the nicknames. At least she won't be in the huge pack of Isabellas born in 2009...But with or without Twilight, I think the name is beautiful. I don't know how we lucked out with the double whammy of having the same middle name as Isabella Swan... Marie is my middle name and my mother's middle name, so it was all for the sake of tradition.
The name Isabella has been in vogue since before the books (maybe that's where Stephany Meyer got her inspiration from?!!). It's been on the top 10 list since at least 2001. Get ur facts straight, people. It's a beautiful name.
My son who is 2 is named Cullen. It is my mom's maiden name and it has been my only choice for a boy's name for as long as I can remember. So THAT is why some people would choose to name their son Cullen. Also, didn't read the books until after I had him but I don't regret naming him that. Everyone calls him Collin anyway so maybe this increase in popularity will help those people who just don't get the name.
Hey, Bella is a beautiful name. It means beautiful in Italian. Just because people name their kids Bella does NOT mean they are obsessed with vampires! Yeah people who do do (Yes I said, 'do do') that... yeah a little weird. But hey it's their kid. :/ It's a fad and will pass. Naming a baby is a huge decision don't screw it up. I have read Twilight but would NEVER name my kid after the characters. The names are nice and pretty but it's gonna be a common name soon... Thank Stephanie Meyers you B****
Cullen is Irish for handsome. What more of a reason do you need?
PAL May 10th, 2010 5:37 pm ET
Isabella is a beautiful name and has always been popular for daughters. It just hasnt been #1. For those of you stating you named your daughters Isabella or Bella long before Twilight came out then you daughters better be older than 30+ years as the book came out in the 70's.
PAL-You're an idiot, the books did NOT come out in the 70's! What is wrong in your head? Seriously? Have you ever LOOKED at a copyright date? Come on.
I think Isabella is a lovely name, no matter what your reason for picking it. I do understand getting confusion from people who think you are named after a book/movie/tv character or whatever, because it happened to come out close to when you were born. Take a look at my name, and just guess what people were asking my mom if she named me after (the answer is no-I was actually named after a family member).
LOL Arglebargle, (sorry if I misspelled your name).
I named my black Lab Bella. I didn't do it because of the movie though so I guess I'm lame.
There was a infamous oil billionaire in Dallas by the name of Cullen, T. Cullen Davis he literally got away with murder back in the 70s he killed his step-daughter and ex-wife's boyfriend I think then he hired a hitman to kill the ex-wife but she survived and he got away will all of it. I still like the name Cullen
We named our son after the protagonist in Joseph Conrad's "Heart of Darkness", my husbands favorite book.
I named by little vamp portoBella
Two trends that I don't understand:
#1 Trying to cram a "y" into names- Jayden, Hayden, Ashlyn, Meghyn, etc. Why are people trying so hard to give their kids weird names?
#2 Giving girls surnames/androgynous names for first names- McKenzie, Mackynzie, Hunter, Riley, etc. What do you think will come of this?
I have had the name Bella Maria picked out for years. I was horrified to learn that it is now a popular name.
Naming your child after movie/book characters: Not a bad idea.
Naming your child after self-absorbed, amoral, overly-dramatic, shallow book characters: Really bad idea.
Hope that helps those who defend Twilight-inspired naming understand the "hate" better..
That is seriously pathetic. Especially considering Bella's personality. Its disgusting how huge Twilight is considering its cliche plot and mediocre author.
I named my daughter after a character in a book and it continues to be a lovely and unusual choice. Typically children have always been named for someone. A saint, a relative etc. Its only natural that today's choices are often found in pop culture.
My daughter is named Emaleth, found in an Anne Rice novel.
No.
So, if I watch a movie and happen to like the name of one of the characters, it's illegal to use it? Most parents don't name their kids for characters but because the like the way the name meshes with the family name. Well some do, just not most. When I was torturing myself over the name for my son you would be surprised where I got inspiration. Thankfully, the name fits him to a T.
Utter stupidity to name a child after a movie character. Children grow up so into adults, so why not give them a name that is all their own that they do not have to explain all the time and feel the absolute embarassment of having vacuous morons for parents
First off Bella is a gorgeous name! What is the big deal about naming a child after a character in a book? This how article and argument is just stupid. TONS of people take inspiration from movies, books, stories for their children's names. I was named after an actress. My best friend was named after one of Saturn's moons. Who cares??!?!
We named our cat Gandalf. We get some strange looks from people not familiar with LOTR as they try to figure out where that name came from. If we got a girl cat she would have been Arwen. OK, so we don't get out much....
I named my daughter Isabella in 2002, I never read those Twilight books. That name has been around a long time and it's beautiful and so feminine. This article is silly and pointless.
Proof of the unoriginality and lack of creativity in this country. So annoying! And I loved the freaking books!
Really? I don’t understand the big fuss over this. Families receive advice and suggestions from various options when deciding what name to give their baby. Whether they decide to pick their great-grandparents name or a name they heard in passing should not be ridiculed. I'm sure the writer of the "Twilight" series did not make up the name "Bella" and "Cullen".
I do not have kids yet, but plan to have them in the future. I never understood why parents named their children with these cutesy names. The kids grow up and they will be adults with these baby names. I think it is more important for parents to give their children names that will suit them as adults over giving names because they are cute, no matter what the reason.
I have a granddog named Isabella but we call her Izzy...not Bella!
To all those considering a twilight name: let's hope you use the long form Isabella and not just Bella. Hopefully that will eliminate your daughter's future embarrassment as she can use the longer name to avoid the inevitable linkage.
But even so, Bella is better than Porsche (rather than Portia, the shakespearean female character from the The Merchant of Venice – as in, she's named after a character, not a car). or my personal favorite, Rakell, as in your parents can't spell Raquel....
The truth: anyone who's read the Twilight books likes them. If you haven't read them, then don't comment about how lame they are.
I'm naming my next kid Bellaward, to honor both Bella and Edward. The name's good for a girl or a boy.
I've aways loved the name isla. I think Isla Mairaed would be a beautiful first and middle name.
No offense to Hannah Montana, but I feel as though Miley is the name for a pet...And Cullen is a last name..not a first name..
@Gheyfuel Cool story bro.
teach – I know a couple of girls named Kyle. What's that about?
We did name our dog Bella, after Twilight. It's fun!
As far as the books, I was determined NOT to read them, but after some convincing from a friend I decided I would give them a try. They are now one of my all time favorite books. I have to say I did not understand what all the hype was about, but I do now. Until you have actually read them, you cannot critique them. Making the choice to not read them is fine, but just because that is your choice doesn't mean they are not good. They are in fact VERY good books!
What Up Wit Dat – it's a given that people are going to go overboard about whatever the topic of the day is. Parents just need to think before giving their kids strange names because the kid has to live with it. There's nothing strange about Cullen or Isabella. Not everbody has to be a Tom, Dick or Mary.
What about Addison, I named our son that years ago, it means "son of Adam"? Now there are all these girls named Addison because of Private Practice/ Grey's Anatomy. Now whenever he goes somewhere people think he is a girl.
AND I know of a few people who haves dogs named Bella.
I'm surprised how many people care so passionately about what and why other people name their children!!
I am not a Twilight fan–have not read any of the books or seen any of the movies–but I am still appalled at the name calling and degrading comments on this topic! Why would someone "deserve to be shot" because they were inspired by a name they came across in a literary work??
There are far greater injustices in the world that you might consider channeling your intense hatred toward.
Weird and unusual names are nothing new. My daughter had a student named Princess. I'd take Isabella over that any day.
I dont have childrens 🙁
I have a dog named "Nella," but that's for Lou Piniella 🙂
I'm sure this trend will pass and people will move onto the next thing..I am waiting for the 'jayden, cayden, braden,' etc names to stop.. enough already.. you're just picking 2 syllables and throwing 'em together like they used to do way back in the day on 'The Electric Company'...
OK, I have seen the second Twilight movie. Bella was an extreme drama queen with severe, stressed again, severe self esteem issues. Why would anyone name their daughter after someone who is so completly unstable? Drama, Drama, Drama is the word. By the way whats up with the whole attraction to complete age difference attraction? Old as crap vs. going to jail young. Ok heres another. Swapping spit with a corpse or doing it doggie style with a dog!
It's insipid to name your children after characters in this book/movie. Do people not have a brain?
How about Sue, after Sue Sly
I laughed hearing that people are naming their sons Cullen. That is my married name and have heard that name mispronounced in so many different ways for many many years. Cohen, Colon, Collins, Cullen (pronounced Coolin in Latin American cultures). Lol, even funnier is in Ireland they still have O' Cullen. Guess it is a good thing that Edward Cullen doesn't have an "O" in front of his last name, Imagine some person who doesn't know how to pronounce the name, calling a kid O'Colon.
If you love Twilight and your kid, just name her Bella and own it. Can't think of anything better. If you don't like Twilight, you suck. Go watch a tractor-pull!
Okay bella is better then giving your kid names after fruits or veggie. such as cocco or apple, from celeb moms! Come on ill take bella over apple
Yep, I did it... named my baby Cullen.
We named our daughter Bella in late 2007 before we were really aware of the Twilight phenomenon (we were out of the loop, I guess). We still haven't read the books or seen the movies, but EVERYONE assumes that's where the name came from, which sucks because the whole thing sounds pretty god-awful.
I actually know of a guy named Cullen and he was born way before all the Twi-hards took over.
HBF.. The Isabella from DOOL was the daughter of Marlena and John. Also, she was Isabelle and went by Belle
Back in my day, vampires sucked blood, not d***.
🙂
I blame Morgan Fairchild for women thinking that Morgan is a girl's name.
When I hear the name "Bella" I think of Bella Lugosi!
Not a great association....
Parents, please THINK before you name your child – you could scar them for life.
Buella Ballbreaker
Dora Knob
Svetty Ballsack
dont you love family names.........haha
These comments crack me up! There are always the 'top 10' popular names; every decade has a new set of names so what. I wanted to name my daughter Linda after my sister but my husband said no so I named her Lisa simply because I like the letter "L" and it had 3 letters the same as Linda (dumb reason I know). I was named after a women my dad met during WWII (not my mother). Name your kid whatever you want just try not to let it be an embarassment to them with something like "apple" or "moonbeam" or "rumor" and remember kids are CRUEL so don't give them a name that is easy to make fun of...just give them an ordinary name that is easy to spell.
Someone named their kid Favre a couple of years back. I wonder if they regret that now?
I'm not sure why everyone makes such a big deal about something like this. Is this REALLY what's on everyone's mind these days? Kudo's to that Stephanie Meyers for writing a book that lots of people must actually like. I don't know much about the series, but I don't LOATHE the idea like most of you people do. I do wish, however, that I had come up with the idea myself. That author could care less what any of you think and she's laughing all the way to the bank....
And if someone want's to name their child Bella or whatever other names come out of the book- who really cares? You think some sweet little girl is going to come into kindergarten and kids will instantly start mocking her because her name is Bella? Listen- I'm a mother of two and I love my children's names. I chose them because it's what I favored and who cares what anyone else thinks. If it upsets you THAT much that maybe some kid is named after a character in a book or movie- then don't name YOUR child that and move on with your life. Geesh.
Isabella is a beautiful name and I wouldn't mind naming a daughter that but it certainly would NOT be because of that stupid series. That would be a factor against it.
I named my girl Emma because of Jane Austen's book. I had no idea how popular it was 4 years ago. I chose it back when it was an obscure old name. Ah well, fads come and go. I think sometimes people just like the name and not necessarily want to name their kids AFTER the characters/actors. Either way, it's the parents' business. It's better than syphilis or some of the inane names people make up.
i am so naming my kids anakin, luke, chewie, C3P0 and lando.
naming your child after movie stars, tv show / movie characters, etc just goes to show you have absolutely no imagination and really don't deserve to be procreating to begin with...
"As someone who was named after a soap opera character, it's not like it shapes your life." How ironic that you write this, given your post name: Diva in Charge. 🙂 And robhat, you made me laugh.
i don't know wut going through everyones mind but i thing its not right to say you should name your child this or that b/c it came from a tv show.... im in high school n i have only met one other person w/ my name....... n really every child in skool will get picked on...every one it not always bout the name...ppl can be jealous... ppl want your name or something... you can't stop your child from being picked on its HIGH SKOOL... lol its filled w/ drama..... n mean girl... you just have 2 live with it....lol im called biker chick, b/c my name came from a motorcycle.. i like it alittle..lol n i love the names prudence n piper n phoebe n paige.... not b/c tht were witches on charmed but b/c the names are unique.....lol i also like Abbigail lol it goes not matter if ppl name their childern after tv characters.. its their dicision....
I may not be a mom but i think its wrong for ppl to judge.... there are millions of names n all of the children in the world get picked on..it will happen some way form or fashion........lol..........
When ever I tell someone my daughters name (Emma)- I always follow up with: "I liked it before Rachel and Ross did." It is a family name on both sides, and I have always LOVED the name. So, in 2007 we named our baby girl Emma Grace. Unfortunatly, I have come accross several Emma Grace's... but it's ok, because the name fits her, it's just as beautiful as she is!
I'm not bothered by folks naming their children "Cullen" or "Bella". I am, however, distraught to learn that so many Twilight fans are procreating. O cruel world.
If a name means so much to you, it doesn't matter if it was in a popular book or movie. Just follow your heart. Nobody or nothing can ruin that for you. If you want to name your kid Bella or Cullen, I say go for it. They're your kids and besides Bella and Cullen are so easy to spell and write when your kids start pre-school. 🙂
@ J.... LOVE IT!!! I think you next son (if there is one) should be Bond Jamesbond.
I am amazed at the number of people who read this article, considering how much they seem to hate "Twilight". I think they all need something better to do with their time. People choose names for a variety of different reasons and it really doesn't matter as long as they are happy with what they chose. "A rose by any other name would smell as sweet". Yes, both names rose in popularity, but who cares? If you don't like the name, don't use it. My husband and I chose the names of our girls based on 2 facts: We liked them, and they were not so unique as to be scary, but there shouldn't be 10 kids in their class with those same names. Some people truly need to get over themselves.
Plus, isabella is a derivative of my name 'elisabeth'. If you name your child after a tv character or something of the like, you are a TOOL. Names have a huge significance after family. My brother just named his son "Jorgen" because it's a family name; Jorgen was my ancestor who came to the US in 1895 from Norway.
There is a little boy in my son's kindergarten class named Furious. Seriously. His last name makes the name even more ridiculous, but I am obviously not going to post someone's full name on here. Poor kid!!
My daughter is 8 and I named her Bella because I always liked the name and it means "beauty" in Latin-based languages like Spanish and Italian. "Belle" is beauty in French. She is a beautiful child inside and out. If I ever have a son, I would name him Zane.
I think a lot of people name their kids after characters not because they like the characters, but when they hear the name a lot they suddenly realize it's a nice name. I think it would be embarrassing to name my kid after a Twilight character, but when I heard the name Isabella and realized her nickname could be Bella I thought it was a really charming name. But the fact that everyone is naming their kid that makes me not want to use it.
I actually named my puppy "Bella," but I have never read the books or seen the movie...I actually didn't know the main character's name until someone asked if I named her after the books/movies...
To Rose – Love that your daughter's name is Laura and you call her Bella Boo. My cat came with her name and her name is Laurel. We always have called her Laurel Bell. Her nickname is actually Bella and sometimes Bella Boo. I didn't know anyone else would say Bella Boo other than my husband and I.
As for names that are popular. Most parents don't even know what is a "popular" name. My parents didn't know anyone named Ashley when I was born but when I started school I was just one of the 6 girls in my grade. Needless to day we all became known by our last names.
this is pretty dumb that alot of people name their kids after these movies, and those that happen to have the same name havent always seen the movie.
my uncle named is daughter Bella and he still has yet to see the movie or read the book. so that whole thing about them being named after characters is not always necisarily true
I think this needs to be put into perspective – to assume that someone names their child Isabella or Bella because of Twilight (and only Twilight) is obtuse. There are literally centuries where Isabella was a common name before Ms. Meyer's book came out. Someone might like the name, or they may have had a great-grandmother named Isabella.
Furthermore, I would rather someone name their child Isabella, Jacob, Cullen, or Edward than Apple. Or Moon. Or Zuma. But, then again, that's my opinion.
I am going to name my neighbors kid who is a brat Osama Bin Laden
I had seen the Twilight posters and heard the jibber-jabber about it, but had no idea what the characters were named. While thumbing through an annotated family tree my dad had, my wife and I stumbled upon the name Isabelle. Once my daughter was born, people kept asking me if we were going to call her Bella. No! No! No! Why do people keep asking me that? Then, a friend of mine told me all about "Bella." I have been second guessing myself ever since. I have always been called by my middle name: a fate I would have never wished on anyone. Now when I look at my daughter, I keep thinking about switching to that middle name.
I actually named my daghter Isabelle so we could call her Belle.I didn't like the name Isabella or the sound of "Bella", too Italian.
On one hand I'm glad that her name is different but on the other hand people are always calling her Isabella and I have to constanly correct them. It's a pain.....
I was the only Jennifer all thru school...then my name exploded and there's more than '27 Jennifers' to date, more like 2.7 million.
My daughters are also 'the only one' with their names without being too trendy or ridiculous...then both names ended up as popular cartoon characters when they were growing up, go figure.
Not for nothing, but would anyone really want to be called Gladys or Norman today?
@ J.. lol!! Thatsmy Sandwich.
Isabelle is a family name going back to before there were even televisions. I ould hate to think that people assumed our newest granddaughter was named after a movie. She was named after a long line of Isabelle's in our family.
i actually know someone who named their baby after Twilight, we laughed at her
What happened to names such as GLADYS, MARTHA, EUGENE,
NORMAN, TULULA, ERNESTINE, BERTHA......
I wanted to name my son Killdeath Darklord so he wouldn't get beat up in school, but my wife talked me out of it. Also failed names include: Tranny Lapsackle, Filigree Hamster, Bond Jamesbond, Thatsmy Sandwich, Smith Smith, Junior Mint, Horse Apple, and Fajina Phish. We settled for something more traditional, Mister President.
Perhaps the next hot movie name will be Lisbeth after the character in "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo."
"Bella" has been flipping overused for years. Even before Twilight, I wondered how many more people were going to be lemmings and name their kids Isabella/Bella. Then when the Twilight books came out, I thought, 'Geez......no imagination....'
Bella & Jacob are the top baby names last year? At least my generation wasn't stupid enough to do that with Han & Leia.
@Justin: I loved the Bunnicula reference! That was my favorite series of books when I was a kid. 15 years after reading them, I even had a dachshund named Howie after the crazy little dog that came into the series in the 3rd book.
My husband and i almost named our 4 year old daughter Isabella, but decided not to b/c i didn't want people to call her Bella. We instead named her Isabel.
Time moves these things along. I've met several people who were named Michelle, after a certain love song. Beautiful name. Does it really matter that their parents were Beatles fans?
I was named after my great aunt–who was born shortly after the premier of a certain movie...
You'll always be naming your child 'after' someone even if you don't mean to, unless you make up some random weird name....and even then you better be VERY creative with some of the names of children these days! Who cares....be creative, be simple – just remember it will follow your child forever.....unless they change it! I am not the only Shannon in the world, but I have always loved my name.
I named my daughter Annabella right before Twilight came out – no big deal guys!! We call her Annie anyway... But I also named my oldest Kayla after Days of our Lives years ago – She's never seen the show and it doesn't affect her in any way. I have noticed that she has an awful lot of friends with the name Kayla or some variation of that! So, probably the only affect this will have on the Bella's being named is that they will have friends with the same name. Its NOT a big deal!!
I named my daughter Isabella, we call her Bella, before I knew about these books. I am so mad that everyone thinks I am dumb enough to name my kid after Twilight.
twilight... a show with a bunch of droopy eyed twenty somethings act all mental... great lets just call my kid harry potter, or Obi wan, or freddy kruger. People who give their kids messed up names will have kids who hate them.
There are some pretty clear trends in names if you look at the SSA names database. Just because you didn't name your child after a character in a book or movie, or a movie star, doesn't mean that others don't.
What if someone else does, and you happen to hear the name and think to yourself "wow, I really like the sound of that". Basically, while you can't specifically say, yes, every single one of those 22,000 children (which, incidentally, is the approximate count) were named after the character...you can say that the popularity of the name increased with the success of the Twilight series.
Nothing should be taken away from that name...It's beautiful and I've considered using it for my own daughter...I won't now...but not because of the books, but because of the sheer number out there.
Anyone remember the spate of little Vannas all named after Vanna White? I've yet to meet one but I bet a lot of them hate their names.
If pop culture is a major influence in naming your child, you're shallow and your kid will probably be shallow too. Also, funky names like Cullen often equate to "beat me up and take my lunch money" when the kid's in elementary school.
That said, I have no problem with Bella. It's a fine old Italian name and happens to mean "beautiful." My niece is named Bella and it suits her. Her dad's Italian and it suits her.
lovin' the comments! 😀
Why do people care so much where someone got their baby name? I think Bella and Cullen are cute names. If someone heard the names from the movie and thought, "I love that name!!" then good for them for finding a name that gives them that type of reaction.
Emma was popular before Friends. Isabella was popular before twilight. I'm 30 and went to school with a Cullen. I liked the name for my unborn child. Had no idea that it was a Twilight character. This article makes a lot of assumptions.
I was named after a Barry Manilow song....is that bad? LOL
so what. people can name their kids whatever they want. people have been naming their kids after TV or movie stars for YEARS.....
I love that name it is awsome and so is the movies...
PAL May 10th, 2010 5:37 pm ET
Isabella is a beautiful name and has always been popular for daughters. It just hasnt been #1. For those of you stating you named your daughters Isabella or Bella long before Twilight came out then you daughters better be older than 30+ years as the book came out in the 70's.
------------–
If by 70's you mean 2005, than I agree with you.
I named my son Cullen (which is gaelic for " handsome") and he is 9, way before all of this Twilight BS. It's sad if someone thinks I named him after some lame tween vampire! Oh, but my oldest son is named Quest, so I am a little of the beaten path when it comes to names...
I named my child Isabella Marie before Twilight even came out, so they can't lump me in that group!
Damn it to hell I almost named my daughter Isabella 10 years ago and since then she has called all of her dollies that. I think it is a beautiful name and not because of some silly book. However my lovely daughter ended up being a Madalynn which is just fine by me.
We named my daughter Isabella. Not because of a book, but because it is a beautiful Italian name and we are Italian. However, what people name their children and for what reasons is no business of anyone else and I find it extremely rude that people want to be so judgemental of others because of their child's name.
One of our friend's mom is a pediatric nurse. She had a teen mother give birth to a little girl and named her Abcde. Prounounced Ab-seh-dee. *Face palm*
We named our son Cullen. My husband is from Wisconsin and Cullen is the name of a Packer. He is also Irish so we thought it was a great fit. I haven't even seen the Twilight movies but I wish Cullen wasn't the last name of the lead character.
Stacy....I feel your pain! I named my daughter Paige a year before Nicolette Sheriden ( SP?) joined Knot's Landing ( I think) and her character was Paige. After that EVERYONE seemed to be naming their child Paige. I actually met someone at Disney World with a daughter Paige and she was quick to point out that she didn't name her daughter after the TV character either. It's a bummer!!
Want your kid to amount to something, name him Cannon or Showtime.
Better than naming it Moon Unit or Apple.
No. I think Jacob might resent that later in life.
When naming my own kids, I wanted to be careful that one day, when the teacher calls their names in the roll call, half the class doesn't respond.
I've never been a fan of pop culture anyway, so it makes no sense to me that anyone would name their children after their favorite pop icon of the day, especially knowing there'd likely be a dozen other kids in the neighborhood with the same name.
At least, however, given the way names rise and fall in popularity over specific periods of time, nobody will ever have to explicitly speak their age; all one needs to do is ask their name, and their birthdate will be pegged to the year, almost to the month.
at least it's not Renesmee. That's a really horrible name...
Do we really think that 10 years from now Twilight is going to be the huge phenomenon it is now? Bellas born today won't be walking around talking about these movies when they're in Highschool. Sure, there may be a bunch of them around, just like there were a ton of Mike's, Dave's and Steve's when I was growing up. Not a big deal.
Teacherlady is spot on.
@ Angelina...I like what your father said. I'm going to have to remember that!
@ Amanda...What is wrong with edlerly people named Braden, Kaylee, etc? Some day there will be an elderly woman with the name Amanda. So what?
As for naming your baby after names you have hear on TV or at the movies or in a song, or read in a book, who cares? I named my dog Layla after the Eric Clapton song. I heard the song, liked it, liked the name Layla. I would probably name a child (if I had one) a name I've hear somewhere in pop culture because then name was mentioned and I liked the sound of it. Period.
my best friend and i joking decided that her baby's name was going to be "baby twilight", in all reality though the baby is going to be named Layla.
Stupid parents. Honestly.
My daughter goes to school with a boy named Julius Caesar T___!
What about Peter Cullen, the voice of Optimus Prime? Hello....
Popular culture has reaching influence we can't even understand while we're in it – American's in their 30's are still naming children after their Cabbage Patch Kids. http://thedailyjim.com/2010/03/23/evil-lurks-in-the-cabbage-patch/
I named my 15 year old son after a character on a show, Time Trax. I know I know what show? lol The main person was Darien Lambert. I loved that name and never heard it before. I don't regret naming him after that character – I heard something different and went with it. I did change up the spelling a little bit – but still a great name.
I don't think naming your kid after a character in a movie you like is a problem. big deal. I think it would get 'tarded as some of you morons say if parents started dressing thier children to look like the characters. Whats wrong with a Bella or a Cullen? Not enough Franks or Alices for ya?
My nephew is 16 years old. He was named Forrest – right after Forrest Gump. He now has to endure the kids yelling, "Run, Forrest, Run!" all the time
Bella = Linda = beautiful. lovely
what's the big deal?
As a fan of the name Isabella and due to my students' love for the Twilight books, a fan of those as well, I felt I should jump in here. Stephanie Myer got the name Isabella from somewhere...it wasn't her original creation (perhaps she saw it on a list of popular baby names as well since it's an old name). Very few names in the world are completely original anymore. Everyone needs to just chill and select names for their child that they love...regardless of where they first heard the name. I plan on naming my daughter Isabella, but if I want to get defensive I could say I fell in love with it first in the early 90s when I was in the 7th grade and read Wuthering Heights. If someone comments about her being named after a Twilight character, I'll just tell them "yes, they share the same name" and then I'll smile and move on. It's not the end of the world. And as a teacher, I'll be happy to have Bellas in my class instead of other names I can't pronounce...some kids' names look like their parents took a Boggle board, shook it, and wrote down the first letters they saw and called it a name.
I named my new dog we got last summer Bella., My friend at work had a baby last week and named her Bella
Vampires with no fangs. Whoever thinks this crap is good...is a Moron!
My friend just had a baby and named her Isabella but they call her "baby Bella". When I heard what she named her, I couldnt help but roll my eyes. NOT original which, hey, most names arent. But b/c of the whole twilight thing it just makes the name lame for babies.
My wife named her dog Bella!!!! LOL
I named my new dog we got last summer Bell., My friend at work had a baby last week and named her Bella
Named my dog "Roland" after the main character out of "The Dark Tower".
Named my son "Elias" when "Olias" was shot down by the wife. Olias is from Jon Anderson's "Olias of Sunhallow".
Named my daughter "Ariana" after a mage named "Ari" in the SEGA game "Shining Force II". Her middle name is "Lorien" after "Lothlorien" from Lord of the Rings.
Folks are going to get inspiration from pop culture to name their kids...nothing wrong with that. My and my wife's only requisite was that it wasn't a "top 10" name that every other little girl or boy that would be her/his peer would have the same name.
How about people being a little more original? Remember. Once these poor kids get in school, they will be in a room FULL of Bella's. Get a life, people.
I haven't seen "Twilight" but I don't need to to know that Cullen is a stupid name.
14 years ago I named my daughter Isabella. I have always loved the name. I actually had a genius (ha) ask the other day if I named my daughter after the character in the movie! Imagine my reply! Some people. I actually call my daughter Isabella but as a child her friends shorten the name to Bella beacause it was easier for them!
"Bella" means sugary in my language from the southern India.
Sure beats La-ah. Pronounced La Dash ah because, as her mother said "the dash don't be silent."
We named our 2 year old Isabella after my late mom; we call her Iz or Izzie, so hopefully she won't have to be in the Bella queue at school.
Name fads are nothing new. Quite a few people named their son's after Roosevelt in the early 1900's. It's not really a new thing.
I'm naming him Adolf Hitler
I named my spaceship Bella, its flying around the earth as we speak
@ PAL
Um... the book did NOT come out in the 70's. The author's birthyear is 1973. Twilight came out a couple of years ago.
To all those people who 'hate' Twlight... get over yourselves. It's a beautiful love story, albeit, a little strange towards the end.
As my Dad always says, 'Save your anger for the injustice." Meaning, don't waste your valuable energy on 'hating' something trivial. Try saving the world or something.
My daughter is names Bella, but not after any movie character. It is a "beautiful" name that has been marred by some silly movie.
Isabella, (Bella) has been an increasing popular name before the Twilight movies came out. I just don't understand why anyone would name their child "Cullen".
Bella is at least better than a lot of the names I've heard lately- 60 years from now there will be a lot of elderly people named Jayden, Cayden, Payden, Braden, Hayden, Rayden, Halden, Broden, Jaylyn, Jaylee, Kaylee, Haylee, etc.
I named my dog Bella.
I have a friend who named her daughter Audrina 2 years ago, but swears it has nothign to do with "The Hills", which she watched obsessively.
If you like the name, fine. But at least admit where you got it from.
Bella? Just makes me think of Bella Lugosi. "Future events such as these will affect you in the future!"
My name was very popular when I was born and there were 3 girls called Rebecca in my class. I ended up being called Becks by everybody just to get away from it. Trust me, if a name is in the Top 20 stay well away from it for your child.
Anyone who deliberately misspells their kid's name thinking it's going to make them unique – no, it's just going to give them a lifetime of people getting their name wrong on forms and orders! They're going to have to spell their name every single time they give it to someone. What a drag.
And for goodness sake, stop giving kids surnames as first names. Whenever I meet someone with a ludicrous name my first instinct is "wow, your parents were morons".
The worst I ever saw was a teenage boy named JonBon. He has to go through life named after a mulleted MOR soft rock star and everybody knows it. Geez.
I'm going to name my firstborn Jimi Hendrix. Just because Hendrix is was more awesome than anyone from Twilight.
My daughter is named Lily. Everyone thinks we picked her name out of Harry Potter, but we didn't. It was literally the only girl name we could agree on. If we have another daughter she may have to be Lily 2. That said, so what if people think we got the name from a book? Doesn't change the fact that we love her name.
Grow up people! I mean really! I happen to love the Twilight books! My sons name is Jacob but it has nothing to do with the book! People draw insparations from all over the place when looking for a baby name. So what if they like the name does not mean they deserve to get shot or the kid is going to grow up damaged!
I read these comments all of the time and this is the first time I am posting because I cannot believe that you people are are so nieve to think that someone somewhere has never gotten a name from a movie, book, tv show etc. If you like the name is should not matter where it came from!
Back in 1995 or so I knew a young couple who named their son JODECI after a R&B band that had like one hit. It seemed like the cool thing to do at the time (to them, but I laughed privately). Poor kid – where is Jodeci now???
Obama is a variation of Osama..... Barrack is a variation of Broke (morally, spiritually, politically, financially......)
We're just trying to find out who the daddy is.
There will be a influx of Bellas, Edwards, Jacobs, & Cullens, out there. It is better than being named after dead relatives or after Brett Favre – Green Bay has a ton of Bretts. Hell, I named my kid after a character on Knots Landing.
It just like the kids in the sixties w/ the hippy names. Who cares. It is not your child, it is not your choice. I loved the story how my name was chosen. At least these children won't say. "The only book my parents read was "Baby Names".
Gizmokc – your comment about naming your kid Oops, don't worry, no one will want to breed w/ you.
Geesh, all this over a name. Let people name their kids whatever they like, as long it's not something ridiculous, something mean, or something that is an obvious easy target for jokes.
I actually think a lot of the names in Twilight are really pretty (though I wouldn't personally name my child Bella or Edward or Cullen). Besides, nobody said you have to like the books. Get off your high horses. I bet some people probably don't care for your child naming abilities either.
As for me, my dogs are named after a Narnia Character and a Star Wars Eewok. If we ever have children, my husband wants to name them after Star Wars Characters. We'll see...
Why no Dracula !!
if I ever have a kid(and I don' t intend to), it's first name will be oops
the only people dumber than these are the ones that named their kids Espn or Espen, after ESPN, however they spell the kids name, and yes, I am a sports fan, parents, think about how your kids name will be accepted when they get into school!!!!!!!!!!
There's always Belladonna
To all you people whining about how you named your kids Bella and Cullen 5-10 years ago, and now everyone thinks your a Twilight fan, maybe you need some smarter friends. If they cant put together the fact that your kid is 10, and Twilight came out last year, how do they function in life on their own? For real people!
To me, when I hear the name Bella, I picture a fat chick. Like obese fat.
I named my cat Bella, but that had nothing to do with Twilight.
Her name is Arabella and never callled Bella
Really? I like to believe people name kids after fictional characters b/c they like the name. Not b/c they are obsessed over the character. I like the name, Micah which I got from the movie "Paranormal Activity". Buuuuuut it has nothing to do with the character. Just liked the friggin name...
I named my dog Bella before I had ever heard of any movies, It's just a pretty name, and she is a very beautiful girl.
What annoys me is I named my son Cullen because of his Irish heritage WAY before these blasted books.
Now everyone and their mother thinks I am a Twilight fan.
grumble...
Um, hello... some people could just LIKE the name. I for one, love the name Bella & it has nothing to do with twilight.
robhat - hahaha!
I'm going to name my daughter 'Bunnicula'... might as well go with the original right?
After seeing people name their kids after cars, like Porsche, Mercedes....I suggested we named our daughter "Hummer"...the wife didn't like that at all. Cannot figure out why...
Isabella or Cullen...whether they are referring to characters in the twilight books/movie or just names that parents like, are still respectable names and real names at that. I've seen a lot worse names come about like iwan monay "insert last name here." Also, for all those parents upset that their childrens name are now associated with popular novels...don't worry, eventually new popular books will arrive in time to spare you the horror of people liking the name you gave your children. Personally I'm all for harry clearwater and billy black hahaha.
robhat wins for best comment so far...and yes, i know of two dogs named Bella.
I was named after a book–can you guess which one??
I love the name Cullen – always have! Also loved the name Mason (which yes I read the books is Edward's human last name) and if I had twin boys I had thought of Cullen and Mason, but I also thought of other. Seeing how I am not pregnant and don't see it happening in the near future I think I am ok 🙂
I'm going to name my first-born "Daywalker" to counter this sickening trend.
8 yrs ago we named our son Justin...but it was right at the time that N'Sync & Justin Timberlake were popular. So with this everyone ASSUMED that we named our son after him...NOT!!! He received his name because his father liked Jason, I liked Jordan...so we both settled on Justin. Also now my son is going thru the stage were the kids in his class are calling him Justin Bieber!!!
My thing about this whole name game...stop naming your children after alcohol, shoes brands, jewelry & cars you can't afford. Also spell your children's names GRAMMATICALLY CORRECT...Jasmine not Jazzmen!!! Another thing...if you spell it correctly doesn't give you the right to mispronounce it. I have a niece who's name is Elijah but pronounced Elajhay...at 20 yrs old...she tells me that every college professors she has had thought she was a male before she corrected them. My niece told me once that she would go by her middle name but my sister decided to give her 3 of those!!! Yes you read right...Elijah has 3 middle names...as if Elijah wasn't enough damage!!!
Parents...stop doing this to your children!!!
Now that's my 2 cents & them some added change!!!
robhat.... I thought that was why people had kids... to have a mini tool! A mini me. That's why parents get so disappointed when they get older and wise and resist their un evolved parents attempts to make them just like themselves.
I know a guy who named his kid Anakin. It's bad to name a kid after Star Wars characters, it's even worse to name them after the Prequels.
For all of you who think you magically and *coincidentally* came upon the name Bella, but never heard of Twilight, hate to break the news to you but what a name starts to rise in popularity it comes from popular culture. You heard the name *somewhere* and like it and it WAS from popular culture, and most likely came from someone else who said the name who said the name who heard it from Twilight. There is a great chapter about this in Freakonomics. I am sure there are a few isolated examples of people naming their kids after relatives, but these books really rose in popularity over the last 10-15 years, well before the movie. These are how cultural phenomenas build. Names get popular and they get repeated. It is NOT some giant coincidence that all of a sudden everyone I know has a dog name Lucy, and when I was a kid it was Lucky. Think about it....and when you go to name your kids, even if you LOVE a name, check what names are on the top 20 most popular for the last 5 years if you want to be original. If you don't care, that's cool, but don't profess to have come up with something devoid of cultural reference. By the way, I disagree that it makes you a tool, if you like a name, it can still be beautiful regardless of the origin.
I know several children named Cullen. Their ethnic heritage is Irish and their parents wanted irish names. One is 14; they all predate the books and movies.
How disappointing. I named one of my twins after a great-grandma Isabella...and then this happens.
We named a kitten Tyrannie after dinasours which my son was really into at the time. It was several years later before I learned the other meaning of the word. We changed the spelling of her name to Tirannie and added two middle names Annie Asland.
Why would it matter to us what other people name their kids? Do we judge what your parents named you? No, So why should it matter to us now? Just because someone names their kid after someone in a book it's not a bad thing. It's just a name, get over it people.
@ e–When did Peyton become a popular name? I named my daughter Peyton 15 years ago. Nobody knew a Peyton other than the then-Tennessee Vols QB Manning. But that wasn't for him either.
Jeez, I thought my brother was an idiot for naming his baby Dexter. I guess there are people even more stupid out there.
So this is why family and strangers alike insist on calling my 3 year old daughter Isabella, instead of her given name, Isabelle. Stupid movies : (
I get called Christine instead of my actual name Christina all the time.
I think people are just dumb.
WHO CARES ABOUT ALL THIS DRIVEL??
My daughter's name is Bella and she is in her 30's, she is named after her two grandmothers. Her maternal grandmother's name is Bell and her paternal grandmother's name is Della. She likes her name and tells everyone how much she is honored to be named after two great women.
I think it all goes back to Roman and Marlena's daughter, Isabella, on days of our lives. That's when most of us were in our formative years...way back in the 80's!
My friend had a great idea...she named her car Bella!
ugh this makes me want to puke up my chipotle
these names have always been popular regardless of twilight
I named my daughter Isabella and I call her Bella, but she was born 5 1/2 years ago. I am aware the book series was already out but I had never heard of it. I didn't even see Twilight when it first came out. I didn't care to see another teen movie. I finally did see it when it was out on HBO. My daughter Bella and I watched it. And she said "Hey Mom, they named after me". So yes, Isabella Swan was named after many Bella's before her.
im sorry not pat:P pal...
pat...a bunch of posts down...how do you figure twilight came out in the 70's??? twilight was released in hardcover in 2005...silly human:P
not that im defending twilight....give me interview with the vampire, vampire lestat, etc anyday over twilight...but yeah check your facts sir.
Okay, so here's the deal. Most of us don't care what you name your kid. But take it from someone who was "cursed" by having one of the most popular names (top 10 for thirteen years) and unfortunately 2nd place for fours years straight. Having a common name stinks. Your child will most definitely share their name with at least one or more kids in their class. Your Bella will now become Bella 1 or Bella 2 or Bella A.or Bella B. etc. So, if you don't mind that your princess shares a name with five other girls in her class, then go ahead. But if you do care, then give your child a special name that she will appreciate when all her other friends are named Bella, Emma, Madison, Ava, Emily etc....and the list goes on!
LOL @ Iloveaston23 OKAY!
I think a lot of you are missing the point of this article. It's not that Bella, Edward or Cullen are HORRIBLE NAMES (omg!), it that there are a lot of people who are naming the children after these characters and to say there is no evidence of it is LOL worthy. These books and the movies are at the height of their popularity. But, just name your children, geez. Isabela/Bella and Edward are just fine. Cullen is pretty rare. I've never met a Cullen. But name your child Renesmee? Please have your sanity assessed.
Also, my grandmother's name was Isabella. We called her Grandma Bell.
"Or, perhaps, we’re simply searching for a reason to explain why anyone would name their son Cullen." My brother's name is Cullen, and he was named way before Twilight ever existed. It is a unique name. I'm curious as to what the blogger's name is?
Good Lord, it's difficult enough to name a child without the entire world commenting on it. We were pretty cautious picking names – and still, it took us a while to come up with ones we liked. Incidentally, our youngest daughter's name is Laura but we call her Bella or Bella Boo, because she had a passing resemblance to the child in Monsters Inc. when she had her hair in baby pigtails, only she's prettier than the animated child to us. So to us, Bella meant beautiful. Even though it has no relation to Laura, Bella it is, and it's a much better nickname than Stinky or some of the others that people pick up through life. One of my brothers was called Wingnut for years, because he worked in a parts department. Go figure. Being named after a character in a movie is much less weird than being nicknamed after a small piece of shaped metal.
This sucks for my 6 year old daughter named Isabella in 2003...
LOL I totally agree! Bella is better than Sookie...and I loved the La Miracle comment....We are gonna have a baby right before Christmas and Bella is an ideal name for us simply becuase its beautiful...not becuase of Twilight when in reality I do prefer TrueBlood...loved everyones comments though. Made me laugh. 🙂 🙂
Ok, I did not plan this according to Friends and Twilight (though I did read the books and enjoyed them) but I have 2 daughters and my first is named Emma and my second, (da, da, da) is named Bella.
Wow, I never knew that Isabella just became some new hip name like nevaeh just 5 years ago when someone decided to write a book and name the character that....I mean I could've sworn its been a name for like centuries and centuries before the twilight saga.
I named my daughter Isabella Madison and we call her Bella all the time. She is not named after the book, I didn't even read the books until last summer, in 2009. She was born is september of 2007. It's too bad that she will probably be asked 8 million times if she was named after the twilight character, and whats worse is her birthday is September 13th, which is the same as the character in the twilight books, Bella Swan. Obviously not intentionally but however it is what it is. My daughter is half italian and half hispanic and we chose Isabella because it was prettier when shortened that Gabriella which was our only other contender.
Im sorry for the poor people on here who have nothing better to do than complain about what other people name their kids, if someone wants to name their kids peanut butter and jelly its their own choice, so stop being all oooh im better than you cuz I would never do that, it makes you look like a pompous idiot talking about something you probably know nothing about....
Also, some of the people on here probably have named their children jasmine, or aurora or ella, or tiana and now they are going to have to deal with the same thing, its kind of ridiculous, because they were all names before they were used in a book or on a movie or tv show or even on the radio.
There is no evidence from the SSA that the popularity of certain names is based on specific cultural references. Did they question the parents how they came up with the name? No. This is all speculation. Everyone on this list who has named a child Cullen, Edward or Isabella did it for entirely personal (and not cultural) reasons...family name, irish meanings, etc. I would like to see the research that backs up the article's premise.
From one who named her daughter after a soap opera character, I can understand the temptation, but think it's a shame when names are overused & the kid is one of 5 kids with the same name in their class.
awww...and they have yet to meet, right? or at least to "consumate" the meeting
I was named after a Star Trek character. I like the idea of naming a kid after something you like, but it isn't so great if everyone else likes that same thing. I do love the name Isabella, however, and it's definitely better than Sookie.
I've nicknamed my nuts "Bella" and "Cullen"
My 13 yr olds nickname has been Bella since she was born. My mother gave it to her. Name your kids what you like. And if it is after your favorite character, so be it. My son has a boring JR name to his dad. Should have named him what I wanted when I was in the hospital and had the power of the pen for the birth certificate, and the sympathy of my husband after just giving birth.
Our kitten's name is Edward.
I agree. I like normal names.
Bella(Isabella) and Edward or even Cullen are very nice, normal names(Cullen means "handsome" in Gaelic.) Better than Quantavious or ShaQuita or La Miracle.
About 25 years ago, everyone was naming their daughter "Britney." So glad that's over.
Names are names, you pick what you like. When I picked a name for my daughter I took a name book and tried to match the name to my baby girl character. My daughter was so peaceful and quiet that we named her Olivia- it means peace. Her middle name is Isabella as she was born on my birthday- hahaha 🙂
My nephew's name is Cullen. He is 17-years-old. For years, people called him Collin and only now do people pronounce it correctly. He was named after Countee Cullen, a poet, but it's really an old english and irish name.
hahaha can you imagine naming your baby after a movie character?
Some people are so dumb...
I don't know... My maiden name is DiBella... and "Bella" was my nickname growing up so I had always planned on naming my daughter Isabel or Isabella to sort of carry on my maiden name in a way... and now my husband and I are expecting our first child in November and I am so bummed! 🙁 I still love the name, I just don't want my daughter to have to explain to everyone, "...no, NOT like Twilight." for the rest of her life!
I think that would be really cool to name your child after your maiden name. and i'm sure the twilight books/movies will not be remembered for a long time. she won't have to explain her name all the time. i think you should name your child what you want to regardless of popular culture.
I'm Italian, and have family in Italy, and back in 1977 my aunt, who at the time was living in Italy, gave me her dog, which she bought in Italy about a year before that. Her name was Bella, which of course in Italian means pretty, or beautiful.. So the way I look at it I was cool, over 30 years ago.... Bella was a very cool dog, and lived a very long life. God Bless her...
I was named after the 1948 Harvest Queen of Parma, New York. Really.
Bella is actually a beautiful name. Too bad it's a fad name.
Beats naming your kid after some long-dead king or figure out of mythology.
These poor children will be saddled forever with these fad names. Oh well, they will be kept company by millions of madisons, haileys and peytons...
America is getting less and less original. Didn't think that was possible.
I am a 41 years old Isabella. I am so greateful my mother gave me such name. I think it is the most beautiful female name . Throught the years I heard people say- you are Isabella like the spanish queen Isabella. Check the history books – she was pretty cool.
I can honestly say that I never intentionally named my children after tv/movie/book characters. My 2nd son is a Gregory, and he loves the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series. My youngest was the closest to naming after a character. Eryx. The son of Aphrodite and Poseidon who was a wrestler. In some of the tales, he was the governor of a Greek isle as well. His middle name WAS after a character though. I let my other 3 boys pick his middle name, and they named him Ash, after Bruce Campbell's character in Army of Darkness.
Vampire movies are over-rated!
I just got a new puppy and I named her Bella, short for Isabella
Lol... I named my daughter Tirany, spelled differently but pronounced the same. I got the name by combining some female family names. I wanted a strong name for her and still love the name. She does live up to the name though...
Bella Abzug Lugosi Gonzales has a nice ring to it.
Well, we certainly didn't name our daughter after any character but 13 years ago we did name her Sophia Bella after my grandmother. So actually the people that made twilight named their character after our daughter!
Isabella is a beautiful name, better than Brittany.
funny but this article reminded me of when i was in the hospital after delivering my baby girl (who received a somewhat common but special name)....a woman a few doors down had also delivered a girl, and had named her "Placenta"....why???? because she thought the word was pretty!!! We shared the same OB staff and thankfully SOMEONE was able to change her mind before it was official...."Placenta"......that's definitely an OMG moment haha
There is also always at least 2 emma's in the class i've been in does that mean the parents are jane austen geeks ... No.Names get popular sometimes too popular.The names in Twilight are classy
@PAL The book Twilight is copyrighted in 2005, not in the 70's. Stephanie Meyer was born in 1973, so unless she was a prodigy, she wasn't writing a teenaged love story in the 70's.
A name is a name is a name. Names like Isabella, Edward, Cullen, etc. have been in use nearly forever. At least people posting here haven't admitted to naming their children after fruit, like Apple. That is much worse. When naming our children, my husband sat down and tried to think of every kind of way each name we had chose could be made fun of, knowing in advance that children are cruel and if they can make fun of your name easily, they will. I don't know how successful we were, but none of my kids have come home crying about it, and we chose names that aren't popular.
Well...they (ever wonder who "they" are?) thought there would be a bunch of Hermiones out there after the success of Harry Potter...I don't know even one.
I'm an adult (and have been for a looong time) but read the books and enjoyed them.
As a teacher, I'd much rather have a bunch of kids named Isabella, Edward, Alice, or Cullen than some of the made-up mess I have to call children. Call your kid Jasper rather than sticking them with Squantavialous–at least I can pronounce it!
Bella isn't the worst name on the planet. Really no difference than naming your kid 'ariel,' after the little mermaid. Of course, you have to figure how it is going to be used or misued by the mean sprogs at school. What comes to mind when I hear bella is portabella mushrooms.
No my dog`s name is Bella!!!
Isabella is a beautiful name- always liked it. But to nickname "Bella" than you probably are a Twilight geek.
Now in 5 years when all these little girls start school the poor teacher may have 3 or 4 in a class!
All names come from somewhere, people just draw their inspiration from either common or uncommon places. A friend was telling me a story of some woman he saw who named her kid "ABCDE"- pronounced more or less "ah-besity". Talk about lazy parents who should never have had a kid
Our daughter is named Cordelia. No, not by some character from Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but after Shakespeare's King Lear. She was the only good daughter, so I figured that was a good enough reason to use that name.
We had a guinea pig named Bella. She was a vegetarian.
*shot
Twilight is a love story that has been read and loved around the world and unless you have read the book than you have no real evidence for your agruement .Names can not be liked by everyone and Steffanie Meyer did something amazing she wrote 4 books that captured the hearts of alot of teenage girls and it is wrong to say she ruined the names in the books because you ,yourself make your name what it is and there are bigger crimes in the world than naming your chid after a character in a book you loved.No name can be completly orginal.I think you must immature your self to say someone should for what they choose to call their child
I named my son Cullen years ago, and am quite irked at Ms. Meyer for taking it from him and making it common. Translated from the early Irish, it means "handsome animal," very well suited for my son. R-Pat? not so much . . .
Not sure what your point is Valerie "really! LOL!"
If A is older than B and B is older than C, you are saying A is older than C, and mocking anyone who says B is older than C. Ridiculous, I know... "really! LOL!"
I think their point is that they did not name their children after a character in a book.
Sounds like you have some growing up to do, yourself.
Isabella is a beautiful name and has always been popular for daughters. It just hasnt been #1. For those of you stating you named your daughters Isabella or Bella long before Twilight came out then you daughters better be older than 30+ years as the book came out in the 70's.
Oh, and my dog was named Bella. She passed away and I loved the name so much that I named my next dog Belle, she is currently 10 years old.
Um, Twilight came out in 2005.
PAL you may want to know what your talking about .. Twilight only came out five years ago..google it
Name Game – I KNOW a Tyranny!!! God help her! (and her parents KNEW what the word meant- YIKES)
I too think it's stupid to name your kids after characters, or people you don't know. How much imagination must you be lacking! Kind of like the name Malia – if you like it then great, but to name your kid simply because a tv character, or a politician's daughter share the name is stupid.
Also please don't try to be fancy and give your kid some nice name with fancy spelling (comes off as pretentious) like; Nicholas – don't spell it Nykaulys (or some other weird spelling).
Valerie, I think people get annoyed, because the name is now associated with some stupid character, I don't think any of them claim to be original in giving their kid the name Isabella, but you also don't want your name to forever be associated with a particular figure (think of all the regular people with names like Marilyn, Elvis, Chaka etc... How can you NOT think of Monroe, Presley and Khan) I wouldn't want people to associate me with a character either.
Shrimpy, WOW lol, I don't know you, but your sign on name leaves a mental pic, that may not be you at ALL! Names are important, and the special spelling is OK! I have 4 daughters, and the last one, was a newer name and we adjusted the spelling, its beautiful, its her name, and she loves it! It definiately defined her identiy, and her name is now among one of the more commonly used names, and spelled differently. A name is very important, and can have lasting positive or negative effects, I'm a teacher so I have heard quite a few. So please be careful in naming a baby, its not like you can change it, 2 wks, 5 yrs. or when you feel like it.
Isabella was very popular even before Twilight came out. Naming a child Isabella or Bella after seeing Twilight does not mean that you are naming the child after "Bella Swann". In face, I always liked the name Bell and after seeing the movie and hearing it repeated in coversation on screen, I really like the way it sounded. I wouldn't name my child after the character but sometimes popular culture broadens our horizons to other name choices that we might not have originally thought of.
I wonder how many more women are going to comment, "I named MY daughter Isabella long BEFORE Twilight"...blah blah blah......like it is this great name or something....LOL! It is a VERY old, traditional name, just like "Valerie" and many many other names, heck, it was Queen Isabella of Spain who helped fund Columbus's journey to the new world, and it was an OLD name even then....so get over yourselves ladies....really! LOL!
Name trends change constantly but parents can at least be somewhat original when they decide what name to saddle their kids with for the rest of their lives.
Don't be a trend and don't be an idiot by giving them some sort of name where you open them up to being the butt of jokes.
I have read Twilight (and thousands of other books). Isabella and Edward are very nice names. I'd like to point out that virtually every name is in a book (or movie) somewhere.
I'm certain there are uneducated people who think that a respectable name makes a child a "tool" or a "tard".
I completely agree with you!
I love the books movies not so much. I also don't like the actors for Bella and Edward but both names are very respectable. My two favorite names for girls are Isabella and Alice (which are Twilight characters).
Love the Natalie Beau idea! Gotta love Baltimore! We are actually 8 months pregnant and were thinking of Isabella because we love the name. But whether connected to a movie/book or not – just too many girls with that name which would make for too much confusion in elementary school for her...
Note to self: If a girlfriend brings up naming kids after Twilight, it's time to break-up. Seriously though, think of something other than pop culture. There's plenty of names out there that aren't related to the latest fad.
My oldest daughter is named Isabella, but I had her when Twilight was just a twinkle in meyers' eye, so I win. ha ha
My favorite news story was the woman who had to be talked out of naming her newborn girl "TYRANNY." She liked the way it sounded, but had no idea what the word meant. Sigh.
I have a friend who is going to name his next daughter "Natalie Beau" in reference to his favorite local beer... and somehow his wife is ok with this. Still, I'll take it over a Twilight reference any day.
We've never seen the movie or read the books but my DH really liked Cullen for this baby (we're Irish). Thankfully, we named him Liam - I would have been dismayed if we'd gone with Cullen and then saw this article.
My great-grandma's name is Isabella, which I was going to name a future daughter. Thanks Stephanie Meyer for screwing that up!
I understand completely. When I was a little girl I wanted to name my future daughter Emma. The night Friend's named the baby Emma, my phone rang all night with girl friends calling to say they were so sorry for me. The name was going to be crazy popular when we would start having kids. They sure were right, but I only ended up with boys.
what about Beyondsay like beyounce...get it! that's going to be next year baby girl names.
I was going to give my kid some trendy hollywood name but then I decided I didn't want my kid to grow up to be a tard.
Who?
I have a 7 year old Golden Retriever named Bella...does that count?
newsqueen123: if you name your child after a twilight character, you pretty much deserve any and all ridicule you get from anyone! I completely agree. There are a LOT of GOOD books out there to find children's names. Please let's ignore Twilight and just let it fade away into obscurity.
FLAME ON, TWI-TARDS.
I named my daughter way before i knew of the Twilight Series.......besides it is a strong name if you look it up..i did and loved it
If you're naming your child after characters in a tween romance series, you're way too young (emotionally or chronologically) to be reproducing.
If you name your child after a twilight character you deserve to be shot.
LOL @ robhat's commet!
Do vegetarian vampires drink V8?
I think if people name their child after character in book or a tv program then it because they love the book . If I have a daughter I'd like to call her Isabella – not because of twilight although I do love it but because it my mum's name and I also like the name Peyton and Lucas because of One Tree Hill 🙂
"There's only one other popular figure with that name, and that's Edward Cullen."
Never read or seen Twilight, but Cullen immediately drove me to Stephen King's 'The Stand' in which a prominent character is Tom Cullen. MOON, that spells Tom!
Thank you for making my day!
WORD! Poor kids.
My Dog's name is Bella... lol
uuugggghhh...I named my daughter Bella 7 years ago, way before all this twilight junk! It's a shame that this beautiful name has to be associated with such a ridiculous book/movie!
Actually, I named my IGUANA Isabella, but I don't read this silly books nor have I seen the movie. It's just a great name for a large girl iguana, right?
im naming my kid OJ
As someone who was named after a soap opera character, it's not like it shapes your life. However, as parents – ya gotta remember that this is a huge thing and you really can't change your mind a few months later.
I've never seen twilight and don't intend to.
If you name your kid after a character from twilight then you're a tool and you are in the process of creating a mini-tool