Paranormal Romance & Urban Fantasy discussion

Saw this article on the NYT website today.

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"For baseball fans, 2009 was the year of the Yankees. For job seekers, it was the year of the Great Recession. And for people who track baby names, it was the year of the vampire.

The Social Security Administration released its annual rundown of the most popular names for newborns on Friday, and flying up the list was an ancient name with modern fame: Cullen, the surname of one handsome bloodsucker, Edward, in the frighteningly popular vampire films “Twilight,” based on the best-selling novels by Stephenie Meyer.

Cullen materialized at 485, leaping almost 300 spots from 2008 for the biggest increase of any boy’s name; it wedged firmly between Braiden and Kason.

But the nation’s fascination with the undead may not end there. The most popular boy’s name was Jacob, an eternal favorite that happens to be the name of the buff rival of paler-than-thou Edward: Jacob Black. The most popular name for girls was Isabella, the progenitor of Bella, the love interest of both Edward the vampire and Jacob the werewolf. Just plain Bella logs in at 58.

Mark Hinkle, a spokesman for the Social Security Administration, said that about 22,000 children were named Isabella, out of 4.1 million babies, and nearly 21,000 new Jacobs are toddling about. Mr. Hinkle noted that Jacob had held the crown for most popular boy’s name for 11 years — something he suggested Ms. Meyer might have noticed.

“Maybe she got the name from checking our Web site,” Mr. Hinkle added, pointedly.

Cullen was the choice of an eerily repetitive 555 couples. They included Brad Lafferty and Michelle Mikkelsen, who live in the Bronx. Ms. Mikkelsen said she read the last book in Ms. Meyer’s series, “Breaking Dawn” — which includes the birth of a half-vampire, half-human child — while pregnant.

“I like old names,” said Ms. Mikkelsen. “And most of those characters in there are vampires. So they are really, really old names."

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I looked it up, and Cullen is a surname not a first name. I can understand loving the Twilight saga, but naming your child after the Cullen family? A little much in my opinion. 555 couples? Those poor kids, how do explain a name like that? If you have to name your kid after a Twilight character, what's wrong with Edward or Carlisle or Emmett? Just my two cents. What do you think?

Lauren wrote: "Saw this article on the NYT website today.

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"For baseball fans, 2009 was the year of the Yankees. For job seekers, it was the year of the Great Recession. And for people who track baby ..."

I agree! But they're just fans and maybe they just wanna keep the characters living through generations naming them Babies as 'Cullen'. But i can't agree more with you!

How about a flashback to Anne Rice vampires....... I know a couple who has an 8 month old........his middle name is LeStat!

Personally I think Cullen is a great name and it has nothing to do with the fact that I like the Twilight books. I like old-fashioned sounding and unusual names. And this is both.

I can't really look down on these people as my husband and I plan on naming our son Acheron. Yes, SK's series was the catalyst for it but we absolutely love the mythology behind the name too. We're gonna call him "Ash" for short and only use Acheron when he's in a TON of trouble and for legal stuff lol

:hides in shame: So, yeah, I can't really blame these people.

Ok, my family can't look down on them either. My grandkids are named CARAMON and JORAM (both names from books by Margaret Weis, Tracy Hickman

I think cullen is a cute name.So what if it came about because of the twilight books or movies.I remeber right after the little mermaid came out people were nameing there girls airel.All there of my kids have unusal names.sebastian anastasia and donovan.

do you think this is the first time in history where people named their children after fictional characters or celebrities? i doubt it. i find this to be fun. plus if i just gave birth to a baby girl now, i would name her isabella too, and if i had a boy i would either name him jace after jace wayland or jacob.

Lauren wrote: "Saw this article on the NYT website today.

Quote

"For baseball fans, 2009 was the year of the Yankees. For job seekers, it was the year of the Great Recession. And for people who track baby ..."

I love some of the names I read in books and must admit to all of my favorites names coming from books, I'll hang my head I shame :/
And Courtney I love the name Acheron, good choice!

Yeah, it's gonna be Acheron Curtis (Curtis being my hubby's middle name). And since my hubby let me be the main person to pick the boys name I let him pick the girls name: Dahlia June (June being my mother's first name). Love them both and can't wait to start popping out the kiddos! :D

I think the same thing happened when Harry Potter picked up steam and I believe I recall reading somewhere that the name "Charlotte" didn't become really popular until after E.B. White wrote Charlotte's Web

I just finished The Missing and the lead male character's name is Cullen.

PS my oldest dd is named from an Aerosmith song :)

I'm not criticizing anyone who chooses to name their child after a book character or someone famous. I myself was named after the actress Lauren Bacall. And I'm not saying it's bad to do that or that there's anything wrong with those. It just seems to be a very odd coincidence, that's all.

IMHO, I have no problem with naming their kids after characters in books. If I ever have a baby boy to name, I would name him either Lachlan or Talon , both names from characters in books I just loved. I also love the names Etienne & Isabeau from the movie "Lady Hawk".

My daughter's is named Rhianna from Fleetwood Mac's song Rhiannon.

I think if I had a baby I would use a name from a book I read. There are some good names and names you have not heard of. I hate names that people use all the time.

Names come in cycles. When my daughter was in school 3 of her best friends were all named Stephanie. And then there were her other friends--Stacey, Casey and Lacey. The other name that was really popular with kids her age was Jennifer.

I'm an Ann--which has always been one of those "handy" names--goes with everything and is easy to slap on a kid if you don't have any other name in mind.

Actually--Ann is my middle name. I was named after my Mum's oldest brother, my Uncle Larry. But so were 5 of my cousins. Uncle Larry was in the USN on Dec 8, 1941--and stationed in Hawaii. He survived the bombing--in hospital--for almost 6 months before dieing. Because there are so many of us named for Uncle Larry--NONE Of us use the name. :o)

A friend of mine's husband named their son Dexter (for the cartoon not the serial killer.) And another friend has a daughter named Nyssa (from Dr. Who, the original.)

Twilight made me realise I like the name Bella (although the character not so much), but I can't see Cullen as anything other than a surname.
My brother's best friend is called Tristan Cullen, which I always thought sounded very vampire-y, so that probably explains it...
I get why people do it though; so many people name their kids after songs or characters from movies, I'll probably end up doing the same thing. A friend of mine's uncle loved the Ghibli films so much he named his daughter Nausicaa... Lovely name, but perhaps a little too much for me =L

My son's name is Jacob we call him Jake, he's 8 so not named after the Werewolf. My daughter's name is Samantha, we call her Sami. I'm proud to say they were named after my favorite 80's movie, Sixteen Candles :D I just dated myself ;)

This thread makes me laugh because I raise Australian Shepherds and you have no idea how many puppies have been named Bella this past year or so. Some named a whole litter after characters from Twilight. But it isn't new - there have been trends in the dog names (bet it happens in horses etc too) from popular movies and tv series for years. Wish I had a coal black male pup to name Damon....

See I really like the name Qhuinn! Suitable for a boy or a girl! :)

and though it isn't completly from the book's I think if I had a boy i'd call him Blayke!

I went to HS with a girl named Quinn and a boy named Blake....

I don't know why but I just like the name Qhuinn

Isn't the pregnant girl in Glee namde Quinn? I'm with you, Gem, I love the name.

Yeah she is. Hence why I would have it for a boy or a girl. (A boy cos of Qhuinn in the BDB series. lol!)

I'm also a fan of Q(h)uinn, but will never get the 'h' past my husband. I also love Jasper (after Jasper Fforde, rather than Cullen), Jace, Ethan, Lucas and Ash/Asher. I wouldn't choose the name in honor of any particular character, although they're all in books that I like. But books are a wonderful source for names. Although speaking of Twilight, I'm actually quite fond of Kellan - as in Kellan Lutz.

Mollie wrote: "IMHO, I have no problem with naming their kids after characters in books. If I ever have a baby boy to name, I would name him either Lachlan or Talon [book..."

OMG! If I had been a boy my name would have been Etienne. I thank God every single day that I was a girl!!

My brother's name is Darren. He was born in 1964 and my mom got the name from Bewitched.

Unfortunately I'm names after Courteney Cox. My Mom saw her on growing pains while she was in the waiting room waiting to go into labor with me and she thought she was beautiful. Kinda sucks being names after someone like that. I mean, she hasn't done anything epically amazing with her life and she's still alive and everything. Meh. I hate my name. Until my Mom saw her I was going to be names Kyleah Rae because my Mom liked the name Kyle for a boy and wanted some way to use if for a girl too lol

For the longest time I wanted to name a boy Bastian after the boy in The Neverending Story. If I ever have a girl she is going to be named after my great-grandmother, Ruby Ann.

If I get another dog, and he is male, I plan on calling him either Mr. Darcy or Mr. Bingley, depending on his temperament.

Kat wrote: "How about a flashback to Anne Rice vampires....... I know a couple who has an 8 month old........his middle name is LeStat!"

My parents have a persian cat named Claudia after the girl vampire (Kirsten Dunst played her) in Interview With the Vampire. haha

If I got a cat I wanted to name her Bella UNTIL Twilight came out....Not a fan really of Bella anymore.

I really think it's sad. What if the poor Cullen boy totally hates Twilight?

In the end, it's just a name and Cullen was around long before the books, so although it might have introduced people to the name, it doesn't mean the child will forever be associated with the books. After a few years, some other popular series will come along and Twilight will dwindle in popularity.

lol on the cats Toni. I've always been around cats since I was just a tiny kid. I remember that my older brothers cat (picked by the cat, of course) was a black Tom named Thomas Hewert Edward Cat (T.H.E. Cat--it was a TV show that was really popular in the early 60's and always started with this big black Tom walking across roofs.)

Then, when my daugher started naming cats we had--Brigadire Alaistar Lethbridge-Stewart, Sgt. Benson, The Lady Veratnatrelundar of Gallifrey, Doctor Who and, of course, The Master (all from the first round of Dr. Who.)

My grandkids named a couple of my cats Aphrodite and Bastette. They were going through a mythology phase.

Ann aka Iftcan wrote: "lol on the cats Toni. I've always been around cats since I was just a tiny kid. I remember that my older brothers cat (picked by the cat, of course) was a black Tom named Thomas Hewert Edward Cat..."

LOL very cute!

I have to admit, I'm very tempted to name a future daughter of mine Aeryn, after the character from Farscape. Coraline is tempting, too. If I go traditional, I'd consider Elizabeth (from Pride & Prejudice) or Beatrice (from Much Ado about Nothing).

So... no problems here. :D I actually used to like the name Isabella, but I don't care much for the character at all, so it's kind of soured the name for me. :\

Unlike the rest of you--I still like the name Isabella. But then, my hubby had a great-aunt Isabella who was a truly wonderful person. So she's who I STILL picture in my mind for Isabella. Lol, when I was reading Twilight I had to keep reminding myself that Bella was a TEENAGER since I kept seeing Aunt Isabella

I'd really like to name a girl Audrey.
I feel like there are some hardcore twilight moms who are very tempted in naming their children edward or bella so I don't really like the names anymore.

Gem H aka *Dhelirious* wrote: "See I really like the name Qhuinn! Suitable for a boy or a girl! :)

and though it isn't completly from the book's I think if I had a boy i'd call him Blayke!"

My sister named her daughter Quinn in 1990, we all thought it was odd but came to really love it, and she does also. Her oldest daughter was named Alex. My sister said she wanted names that could be for a girl or a boy because when they are older and fill out applications for jobs no one could tell what they were and they would get a fair shake on getting interviewed for any job they wanted.

Nathalie wrote: "I'd really like to name a girl Audrey.
I feel like there are some hardcore twilight moms who are very tempted in naming their children edward or bella so I don't really like the names anymore."

My grandma's name is Audrey! It is a great name.

Hey just think! In another 30 years the old folk's homes in the UK will be full of people called Kylie,Chardonnay,Chantelle,Shakira,Chanelle instead of Mary,Nan,Betty,Agnes etc!

My middle name is Isabel after my gran who died before I was born.She used Isabella but everyone called her Bella.It was a common name here in Scotland.

I think the most awful name I have ever heard of is Huckleberry, yes a boy was named Huckleberry. Good god what were these parents smoking to name there kid that. They said they would call him Huck, but come on at school he will be called Huckleberry during roll call in homeroom and on all his tests he will have to write his given name. I mean the abuse this kid will take because of this name is amazing. What were they thinking?

um, actually Huckleberry is NOT the worst name I've ever heard of.

My son-in-law has a cousin who named her daughter Heaven Leigh. Not too bad, yes? Until you consider their last name. Its Beaver. So the poor thing is named Heaven Leigh Beaver. The rest of the family is predicting that poor little Heaven has a GREAT future as a porn star or stripper. And her mother's response--I just like the name Heaven Leigh. The girl is totally insane. (And btw, we've set up a fund for her to do 2 things when she turns 18--1) legally change her name and 2) get some very serious therapy to help her deal with the emotional trauma she's already experiencing from the other kids (she's 5 now, and started kindergarten this past fall.)

Ann aka Iftcan wrote: "um, actually Huckleberry is NOT the worst name I've ever heard of.

My son-in-law has a cousin who named her daughter Heaven Leigh. Not too bad, yes? Until you consider their last name. Its Be..."

My niece went to school with a girl named Heaven, I remember laughing when she first mentioned her. They are 24 now and she survived the name but they did live in a town of only 1000 people and their graduation class was only about 25 kids and most of them had been together since kindergarden. So I do believe she had been kind of insulated from being kidded to much.

The Heaven part wasn't the bad part--it was when you put the entire name together.

I don't think it's weird. My son's name is Rhage.

Just kidding.

Kate- I was like "SWEET!" lol I'm a vet tech and I have a BDB fan that is a client. She has two Rottweilers names Vishous and Butch. ;)

LOL Kate....too funny.

For a girl I love the name Sabella which I got from Wild Card by Lora Leigh.