Twilight from the Ground Up (A Name Generating Thread): using the vampires of the Twilight series as a blueprint to create characters with popular regional names.

Tools https://twitter.com/ifithollers/status/1322053122982875141

So let's start with our protagonist, Isabella "Bella" Marie Swan, born 13 September 1987 in Forks, WA. We know that her middle name is her maternal grandmother's name, so to get her complete name we have to break down the whole family.

We have a history of her parents and three out of four of her grandparents, so let's start with Charlie to derive her last name. Charles "Charlie" (I'm assuming it's a diminutive) Swan, born 1964 in Forks, WA.

We also have a brief history of Charlie's parents: they lived in Forks, they were surprised by their late-in-life pregnancy, and they left Bella 2 sapphire hair combs that she wore on her wedding day. Their names were Geoffrey and Helen Swan.

So if they were in their 40s in 1964, that means that they were born in the 1920s. We don't know where--though the town of Forks was not officially incorporated until 1945, and before then it was the town of Quillayute ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forks,_Washington).

But for convenience's sake, let's assume they are also from Washington. Also, because we only have a decade range for their birth years, it's more interesting to use the galbithink reference. So Geoffrey and Helen become William and Mary.

I also know that middle names weren't as common until recently, but if we're so inclined, we can call them William Robert and Mary Dorothy.

Now, the most distinctive surname in Washington state is Hansen. Because Bella is the protagonist, we're going to assign that to her, and also to her father and grandfather.

The second most distinctive surname in Washington state is Olson, and even though Helen Swan isn't given a maiden name, let's give Olson to Mary Dorothy.

Now, Hansen is a Danish surname ("Han's son"), so let's say that William Robert Hansen is a Danish immigrant or the son of Danish immigrants. I'm going to deliberately alter his name to the Danish variants, which makes him Villum Robert.

A note for this thread: I'm deliberately othering people based on name, language usage, and region. I know that actual immigrants to the United States in the 1920s likely Anglicized their names, either by choice or through force on ship manifests. Villum may have used William.

Olson is a Swedish surname according to behindthename (Olsson, "son of Olaf"), so let's say that Mary Dorothy is Swedish. Maybe her name is Maria Dorotea Olson. Again, this is a deliberate choice.

This makes Charlie an American of Danish and Swedish ancestry--the man is extremely Scandinavian.
The most popular boy's name in 1964 was Michael, and the 2nd most popular was John. So let's call him Michael John Hansen.

Now to Renée. Renée was born in Downey, CA in 1968. Here are the most distinctive (unusual relative to the national average) surnames in California.

I think we all know that the state of California has a large Latino population. I am not Latino. However, with the caveat that I don't want to extrapolate these characters' traits onto Latino people in general--I see no reason the protagonist's mother couldn't be Latino.

The most popular girls' names in 1968 were Lisa and Michelle. Also, because of Spanish naming conventions, she could have used her maternal family name as well. So let's call her Lisa Michelle Lopez Hernandez.

And, because I enjoy different versions of languages--adjust that slightly to become Elisa Micaela López Hernández. Again--not saying there are no Latina women named Lisa, only that I'm leaning into the non-English language conventions.

This means that the French Michelle has been replaced by Micaela, which according to behindthename has Spanish usage--to explain that choice there.

So through the protagonist's mother's name, we have extrapolated a paternal family name for the protagonist's maternal grandmother: Hernández; and a married name: López.

There is no birth year provided for Marie Higginbotham, so I googled the average age of first-time mothers in 1968 and got 24.4 years, which would make Marie's birth year 1943. The most popular names in 1943 were Mary and Barbara.

We also have no evidence that Marie Higginbotham was also from California, but we have no other location for her, so let's assume so. Using the next most common name in California, that makes her Mary Barbara Hernández Sanchez.

With adjustments for Spanish language usage, that makes her María Bárbara Hernández Sánchez. I apologize, but I'm not sure how married name conventions work in Mexico specifically (based on proximity to California), so I don't know if she would be known as Mrs. López or not.

So, because Bella's middle name is her maternal grandmother's given name, that makes her middle name María now. Not much of a change from Marie, and that's okay.

While we're still on Renée--or Elisa Micaela López Hernández--she's remarried since divorcing Bella's father. We presume she married a man she met in Arizona, which is where she and her daughter lived until the events of the book.

So Phil Dwyer is a baseball player with a given birthyear of 1975 (8 years younger than Renée, which is interesting given that Renée's characterization seems to be "immature/youthful" and Bella says that her new husband "makes her feel young." I gotta analyze youth in Twilight).

In 1975 the most popular boys' names were Michael and Jason. The most distinctive surnames in Arizona are attached.

You will note that this character already married and divorced one Michael, and that López is her own maiden name. But will I allow that to stop me? No.

Acting on the assumption that he is also Latino, let's use Michael Jason Lopez Martinez to get Miguel Jason López Martínez. Marrying two Michaels might be something to comment on, but marrying a Michael and then a Miguel is less exceptional, I think.

This would make Elisa's married name López again. While I think it's unlikely they're related--it's an extremely common name--I'm also reminded of Gayle Waters-Waters, whose husband had the same last name as her but she insisted on hyphenation.

For everyday use, she probably uses Elisa López.

So back to Bella. We have a fairly extensive family history here--Danish and Swedish on her father's side, Latino on her mother's side. We know she's born in Washington but she spends her childhood in California and in Arizona, at times with her maternal grandmother.

The most popular girl's name in 1987 was Jessica. So that makes her Jessica María Hansen. She may also use López to make her Jessica María Hansen López.

Because English-speaking people are not great about diacritics, her father probably enrolls her in school as Jessica Maria Hansen. If you remember, Maria is also the name we gave her paternal grandmother, so it's convenient.

Now, imagine the story of Jessica María Hansen López, who leaves Arizona to live with her father for the first time since the divorce, and finds that when she arrives in this 80% white town, nobody is calling her by the right name.

I also think there's great potential in a story about her mixed love and resentment towards her mother she describes as "her best friend" but whom she has to take care of, and her decision to leave so that her mother can enjoy her new marriage.

And I think that--while as a white person I will probably never write this story--the culture shock from Phoenix, AZ to Forks, WA would probably be even more pronounced, considering Hispanic and Latino people represent less than 4% of the total population. Can't ignore that.

So that's Bella and her family. This is actually the second time I've written out this thread because Twitter objected the first time and I lost about an hour's work, so that'll be all for tonight. We'll get to the vampires later.