Twilight - Top U.S. Baby Names of 2009

From Examiner.com:

It appears that Gen X born author Stephenie Meyer of “Twilight” fame, is a trendsetter in more ways than one. Meyer's Twilight series of books has sold millions of copies and spawned movies for each of the books. Now we find out that new mother’s are naming their babies after Meyer's Twilight characters.

In 2009, the fastest rising baby name was “Cullen”. The Cullen family in the Twilight series includes Edward (Robert Pattinson) and a host of other hot young vampires. If that wasn’t enough of a trend, the 2009 baby names were are also topped by Twilight character names.

The Social Security Administration reports that the two most popular baby names in the United States in 2009, were Jacob and Isabella. Twilight fans will recognize the name Jacob from the teenage Twilight werewolf, Jacob Black. Isabella is of course the full first name of the character Bella Swan, also known as Edward Cullen’s love interest.

When Stephenie Meyer wrote her first Twilight series book, she wrote it based on a dream she had. Literally, a dream she had while sleeping. Could she possibly have known then how incredibly popular her book and then books and movies would become? Probably not. There is no way Meyer could have anticipated that the names she chose for her Twilight characters would turn out to be the most popular baby names either.

Hopefully the new Jacob’s and Isabella’s of America will grow up liking their names. Maybe they will even grow up to be fans of Stephenie Meyer and the Twilight series. If not, they’ll have to take it up with their parents.