Baby Name Poll Results

Yeah it's too Twilighty. Twilight was my first thought seeing the name.

Bella means beautiful so you could do something like Bonnie instead. It starts with the same letter, same amount of syllables, both have kind of a "nicknamey" vibe and means the same thing. So it could be an honor name in that way instead.
Bonnie Swan.

Or you could do something like Dove instead of Swan, both are birds and can be white birds as well. Bella Dove.

Or if you don't want to use one of their actual names and not the other -
Bonnie Dove.

There are other names with these meanings so you could look those up if you don't like these suggestions, but yeah Bella Swan is a no go in my opinion.

I didn't think Twilight when I saw the name. I knew the female lead character is named Belle or Bella, but that's a moderately common name. However when I googled Bella Swan, I saw the problem. I'm sure the fan base of Twilight would jump to the conclusion that she's named after the character.

Perhaps there's another way to honor your grandmothers. What were their middle names? You could still use either Bella or Swan, but maybe use the middle name of the other grandmother instead for the other part of the combo. Or use both their middle names for the baby's first and middle name.

I haven't seen twilight and I wouldn't have noticed the connection if these two weren't paired together. I know enough to know that's the character's name. I think since its super important to honor both grandmothers, there's definitely another way you could do it. How about Isabelle Swan, Arabella Swan, Ella Swan, Annabel Swan or Mabel Swan?

I love the idea of naming her after her grandmother. I would suggest a longer Bella firstname like....
Annabelle Swan nn Bella
Isabella Swan
Bellamy Swan
Mirabella Swan
Arabella Swan

I have never seen Twlight. I am sure there are plenty of others.i think it is a sweet name and since it is after both grandmas I would still use it. You can Google most name an find someone we'll known with it. You will have an explanation to giver her as to why she has this name. Does it really matter if others assume she is named after a character. You could add in the birth announcement Bella Swan honoring her grandmothers Bella and Swan and then there would be no doubt.

My niece is named Bella and she has never gotten the connection to Twilight. I would not say that the movie "ruined" the name. If you look at it, Bella did not remain overly popular long. In 2009 it went to #59, in which it was #122 in 2008, and #157 in 2007. It is as of 2020 #64. 2010 it was #48 and 2011 it went to #60. You could definitely use it. It barely made it in the top 50 and did not stay there long at all. I would not say it's overly popular. Isabella, that is a whole different story. Isabella has been in the top 20 ever since 2002 and top 100 since 1998. Unlike the shortened version of Bella, Isabella has remained very popular (in top 10) since 2004. It is very slowly losing steam. Not entirely as it is still in the top 10, but it is now at #7. I would go with Bella, as it is not overly popular and never really was. Bu overly popular for me, it means in the top 20, which it never reached that point. #48 was the highest it reached, so go for it. I would really doubt anyone would associate it with Twilight. I've never seen Twilight but see it came out in 2008. I think you could go with your plans. Good luck. Bella Swan is pretty.

I love Mak's ideas. It will prevent you from the movie connection, and also allow her to have her own name, while honoring her grandmothers. Bella can then be her nickname. I think my personal favorite would be Isabelle Swan. Gorgeous!

Save one of them for another sibling.

Yes to Bella Swan. So beautiful.

There is currently a connection to that awful book / film series. But it will fade. And middle names aren't used on a daily basis. She'll be one of many (although not *too* many) Bellas running around her age group.

Honoring is everything. If you don't use Bella and Swan you'll regret it. The suggestion of Arabella Swan, etc. is good. But you shouldn't feel you have to. Good luck! :0)

Bella is nice but I wouldn't use Swan

Yes, it's associated with the character. I'm not a fan of Twilight either but that's immediately what I thought of when I saw Isabella "Bella" Swan. Google confirmed that's the character's full name, so I'd avoid it.

It might be meaningful to you but you and your child will constantly explain that she isn't named after a dumb Twilight character.

Both Bella and Isabella mean beautiful. I'd use a name with that meaning instead. Maybe you could use the name if you went with Bella and used one of your relative's middle name (if they had a middle name).

My mind did go straight to Twilight. I agree that a longer name with the nickname Bella would help. Bellamy is my favourite but all the options listed above are lovely. Or you could adjust Swan a little. Snow would have the SWN like Swan and is white in colour. Or Gwen has the WN in the same spots, same number of letters.

Bella is way overused

Whether Bella is overused or not, if you want to use Bella I'd use it. If you do not, you might end up with baby name regret. And yes later on down the road you could change it, but in most states that will cost you. I do not feel it's overused. It's not even in the top 60 names. With that being said popular or not, Bella has a special meaning to you. Even if it was #1 for the last 100 years, it means something to you. People are still using Olivia, and that's reached the #1 where Bella never had. If it were me, I'd go for Bella.

It's the exact name of the female lead, Of course it's gonna get associated with her. Just use Bella and save Swan

I think the name Bella Swan is beautiful.
I read the Twilight books over a decade ago and did watch the movies so I associated the name with that but I don't think that will be the case for most of the world.
Also, if her middle name is Swan for the most part people will only know her as Bella and her last name.
I saw on a previous poll someone questioning the name Preston Blake which is a character out of an Adam Sandler movie and everyone seemed to think that was okay.
To me Bella Swan is beautiful and the fact that it would be in memory of 2 grandmothers is so meaningful.