No matter whether you’re on Team Edward or Team Jacob, we can all agree that Stephenie Meyer knows how to name a character. Wow! The character name list from her Twilight series is full of everything from traditional and classic names to inventive names to stylish International names. There’s a little something for everyone.

 

On her website, Meyer explains how she came up with the names for her lead characters Edward and Bella. Meyer chose Edward because Edward was the name of Mr. Rochester in Charlotte Bronte’s Jane Eyre and Mr. Ferrars in Jane Austen’s Sense and Sensibility. She thought the name Edward was “romantic” and, presumably, because it was no longer popular, it worked for a character who had been “dead” for many years. Meyer says that naming Bella was much harder. She ended up using the name she had picked out for a daughter if she ever had one. Risky!

 

She named other characters by looking through census records and choosing names that were popular in the years the characters were born.

 

She also revealed some Twilight Name Trivia:

 

 Rosalie was originally named Carol and Jasper was originally named Ronald. I’m so glad she made the changes! Rosalie and Jasper are so much more memorable and stylish than Carol and Ronald. Don’t you think?

 

Read what Meyer had to say about character names for yourself: http://www.stepheniemeyer.com/twilight.html

 

Here’s the list of characters from the Twilight series: Twilight, New Moon, Eclipse, Breaking Dawn. I love the fans over at Wikipedia for being so helpful!

Enjoy and let me know your favorites!

 

FEMALE CHARACTER NAMES

ANGELA Weber

ATHENODORA

CARMEN

CHARLOTTE

CHELSEA

DIDYME

EMILY Young

ESME Cullen

GIANNA

HEIDI

IRINA

ISABELLA “BELLA” MARIE Swan

JANE

JESSICA Stanley

KACHIRI

KATE

KEBI

LAUREN Mallory

LEAH Clearwater

MAGGIE

MAKENNA

MARY

MARY ALICE “ALICE” Cullen

RENATA

RENÉE Dwyer 

RENESMEE “NESSIE” CARLIE Cullen

ROSALIE Hale

SENNA

SIOBHAN

SUE Clearwater

SULPICIA

TANYA

TIA

VICTORIA

ZAFRINA

 

 

MALE CHARACTER NAMES

ALEC

ALISTAIR

AMUN

ARO

BENJAMIN

BILLY Black

CAIUS

CARLISLE Cullen

CHARLES

CHARLIE Swan

COLLIN

DEMETRI

EDWARD ANTHONY Cullen

ELEAZAR

EMBRY Call

EMMETT Cullen

EPHRAIM Black

ERIC Yorkie

FELIX

HARRY Clearwater

JACOB Black

JAMES

JARED

JASON Jenks

JASPER Hale

LAURENT

LIAM

MARCUS

MIKE Newton

PAUL

PETER

QUIL Ateara

RANDALL

RILEY

SAM Uley

SETH Clearwater

STEFAN

TYLER Crowley

VLADIMIR

 

SOURCE: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Twilight_characters

 

 

I especially like the name SENNA from the girl’s list. It’s very pretty and unique, without being too unusual. That’s a fine line to walk and many parents are looking for names that fall into this category. Other favorites are CARMEN, ESME, ROSALIE, CARLISLE and LIAM.

 

You can bet that some of these character names will have an impact on baby name popularity. For example, lately I’ve heard a lot of people mention ALICE and JASPER as possible baby names. Brad Paisley and Kimberly Williams also named their new son Jasper earlier this year, giving it an extra boost of star-appeal. It will be interesting to see if the names transition from being talked about to actually being used – only time will tell (they’ve seen modest bumps already). What do you think will happen? Will the Twilight frenzy translate into baby names?

 

Do you have any favorite names from this list? Post a comment and let me know.

 

Also, let me know what you think of New Moon – I can’t wait to see it!

 

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You can also follow me on TWITTER to get up-to-the-minute celebrity baby name news, interesting names I come across and so much more! I’m @babynameauthor!

 

♥  Amanda

 

If you have baby name questions for me, email me at amanda@amandabarden.com.

Your question might appear in a future edition of Ask Amanda.

 

 

 

For more information on baby names and their meanings check out

BABY NAMES MADE EASY: THE COMPLETE REVERSE-DICTIONARY OF BABY NAMES