Comments on: Names from Twilight: Not Just for Vampires Anymore

By: 12 Baby Name Predictions for 2012 | Appellation Mountain

12 Baby Name Predictions for 2012 | Appellation Mountain — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 23:05:12 +0000

[...] candidate in this category could be Esme. Though some dismiss her as a Twilight-inspired vampire matriarch – and a rather minor character, to boot – the name had been quietly [...]

By: Baby Name of the Day: Ephraim | Appellation Mountain

Baby Name of the Day: Ephraim | Appellation Mountain — Mon, 22 Aug 2011 11:48:50 +0000

[...] there’s an Ephraim in the Twilight novels – Jacob’s great-grandfather, and, the last of the Quileute werewolves until the current [...]

By: appellationmountain

appellationmountain — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 20:41:56 +0000

Kylie, I apologize – I’m basing pretty much my sum knowledge of “LDS names” on one website and one Mormon. Not every Puritan named their kid Flee-Fornication, not every hippie birthed a little moonbeam and not every Catholic has a Mary Catherine.

By: Elle

Elle — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:55:11 +0000

I meant no offense or stereotyping (I grew up Idaho LDS too)! I tried to emphasize the “classic”-nature of the naming (something we have a lot of in our family tree, however it’s back a couple generations). More modern naming typically isn’t done this way, and most of my friends had, at least what I considered, fairly normal names.

http://namemapper.babynamewizard.com/namemapper/
Preston is a name that was first popular in Utah, same with Braxton, Tyler, and even Emily and Kylie. I only meant to say, living in Utah (aka, going to school at BYU) and being Mormon gives you access to an entirely different culture of naming than most people. Again, I meant no offense!

By: Kylie

Kylie — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 20:54:38 +0000

As a Mormon from Idaho but currently living in Utah – I just wanted to defend, once again, the lumping and stereotyping. Actually, I don’t know ANY Mormons who have mashed their parents names together to arrive at their child’s name. That doesn’t mean it never happens, but I don’t think it’s all that common. I grew up with Mormon friends Preston, Jason, Maxwell, Erica, and Erin. All nice and normal. My sister, a Utah Mormon as well, named her daughter Stella 3 years ago, before the trend really took off, and is planning to name the next one Leo provided he’s a boy. Anyhow, not trying to be obnoxious, just putting in my two-bits.

By: appellationmountain

appellationmountain — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:26:29 +0000

Nice point, Elle! I’d forgotten about the Utah Baby Namer. The first Mackenzie I ever knew was my age – mid30s – and yup, she was LDS from Utah.

You’re quite right about Renesmee – thanks for that!

By: Elle

Elle — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:23:55 +0000

I find in all the discussion of “Twilight” names, mention of Meyer’s cultural/religious exposure to naming shockingly unmentioned. Being LDS and going to BYU, Meyer’s brings unique perspective. Renesmee, blending mom and mother-in-law’s names is classic LDS naming, as is blending both parents names (Caroldean, daughter of Dean and Carol) or feminizing or your father’s name (Ronda/Danetta, daughter of Ron/Dan or Stephenie’s spelling being directly feminizing her dad Stephen).

Utah is the mecca for creative naming, having many super popular names start out popular in Utah (Brielle is currently in Utah’s top 100). Different sounding, creatively spelled, unique names abound in the west. It wouldn’t surprise me at all to find out that Siobhan, Makenna, Tia, Kebi, Charlotte, Zafrina, Senna, and Kachiri are names that Meyer heard a lot or knew someone with.

There is a very interesting web site “The Utah Baby Namer” http://wesclark.com/ubn/ (An online help for parents looking for that distinctive name that says “I’m a Utah Mormon!”) that has lists of these uniquely Utah monikers. They point out the new millennium boys tend to fall into the creative last name as first name (Braxton, Tylon). Rather than thinking Renesmee was something an 18-19 year old would find cute, I found my self thinking, that name is SO Utah.

By: photoquilty

photoquilty — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 21:09:19 +0000

Yes, I’m old, too.

By: Emmy Jo

Emmy Jo — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 17:52:49 +0000

I’ve never read the Twilight books or seen the movie, but I’ve heard plenty of the name hype over at Yahoo! Answers and such (and I recently wrote an advice column post for my blog on how to pull off using one of these names without coming off as a Twilight fan).

Overall, I do like a lot of the names from the book, but it has nothing to do with Twilight. Edward is a top-contender on our own boys’ list, simply because I like its old-fashioned style and it’s my brother’s middle name.

I’m not incredibly worried about Twilight sparking a huge rise in the popularity of these names. As many have mentioned, Alice, Jasper, Emmett and the like were already coming back into style before the books were published. Plus, the series seems to be targeted at young teens, and the average age for having one’s first child in the U.S. is 25. It’s likely that by the time these teenagers are ready to have kids, they’ll have moved on to liking some other names. I certainly don’t have the same favorites list that I had ten years ago.

By: Allison

Allison — Sun, 14 Jun 2009 16:08:59 +0000

I have no interest in the books; I tried to read one, and I felt that not only could I not relate, they just weren’t very good. Meyer definitely used an appealling range of names, though. I can still completely appreciate the whole underwordly, prince-of-darkness kind of vibe, just not via this series. Bauhaus’ “Bella Lugosi is Dead?” Yes. Twilight? Not so much. Which reminds me, I need to go brandish my cane and yell at the neighborhood hooligans to stay off of my lawn.