Lunar Chronicles Names: Cinder and Scarlet
By Abby Sandel, Appellation Mountain
Everyone knows the story of Cinderella.
There’s a wicked stepmother and a prince. During the royal ball, a glass slipper is lost, left behind by a mysterious girl who vanishes into the night.
Retellings galore have updated and twisted the tale. Hilary Duff turned it into a teen movie, with Chad Michael Murray as Prince Charming. Drew Barrymore made a version that mixed in Leonardo da Vinci.
Now Marissa Meyer has written a completely different Cinderella story, transporting her from a castle-filled past to the city of New Beijing, in an indefinite – and rather terrifying – future. There’s plague and the threat of war, but happily, her Cinderella will become a true heroine.
Meyer manages to weave in nearly all the elements of the familiar tale – wicked stepmother, pumpkin carriage, handsome prince – in her wild new world. Plus, Cinder leads neatly to a re-imagining of Little Red Riding Hood, and then Rapunzel.
Two more books in the series are planned, featuring the Evil Queen and Snow White – and hopefully a happy ever after for all of our favorite characters from the first three novels.
Because they may be science fiction, but they’re still fairy tales.
Meyer’s world-building included choosing dozens of names – new names for the familiar fairytale figures, and names for new characters she created, too.
Just like Harry Potter and The Hunger Games, Divergent and The Mortal Instruments, the names of heroes and villains alike make for a fascinating glimpse of what could be, if our world were different – or will be in the future.
GIRLS
Adri – Cinder’s wicked stepmother, one of the few characters that remains almost completely unchanged from the original telling to Meyer’s reimagining
Camilla – Queen of the United Kingdom
Channary – A former Lunar Queen. In Meyer’s novel, the moon has been colonized, long enough that residents, called Lunars, have evolved different abilities.
Cinder – Saved from a horrible accident as a child, Cinder is a part-cyborg mechanic – and thus considered less-than-human.
Crescent Moon – A famous lullaby from Luna, and the name of Meyer’s Rapunzel character.
Cress – Crescent Moon prefers to answer to Cress, and she grows up to be a skilled computer hacker, living alone in the ultimate space age tower – a space station.
Emilie – A friend to Scarlet, in the small town of Rieux.
Fateen – A doctor in the royal labs of New Beijing.
Iko – Cinder’s loyal sidekick, an android with keen fashion sense.
Jina – A member of a desert caravan who discovers Cress when she falls to Earth.
Levana – The evil queen, younger sister of Channary and aunt to the lost princess Selene.
Michelle – Scarlet’s grand-mere, a former pilot who flew diplomatic missions between Earth and Luna in her younger days. She’s not afraid of wolves in Meyer’s version.
Pearl – One of Cinder’s stepsisters, the wicked one.
Peony – Many Cinderella stories make the younger stepsister a more sympathetic character, and that’s true here. Peony is a few years younger than Cinder, and her faithful friend.
Priya – A palace official in New Beijing.
Sacha – Neighbor to Cinder in the New Beijing marketplace.
Scarlet – Meyer’s Little Red Riding Hood, a farm girl from Rieux, France, whose grandmother has been hiding some world-changing secrets.
Selene – Channary’s daughter, the lost princess and rightful heir to the Lunar throne. She’s the only one who can overthrow Levana – except everyone believes she died in a fire as a child.
Sybil – Loyal henchman to Queen Levana.
Winter – A Lunar princess, Meyer’s version of Snow White – and the heroine of Book Five in the series, set for release in November 2015.
BOYS
Aimery – A Lunar official.
Alak – Another Lunar operative.
Annotel – A nobleman on Luna.
Carswell – A former member of the US Republic military, the dashing Carswell Thorne has promoted himself to captain of his stolen ship, the Rampion. He ends up a member of Cinder’s unlikely entourage.
Charleson – Another Lunar noble, son to Annotel.
Dmitiri – A doctor at the royal labs in New Beijing. His search for a plague cure connects him to Cinder – and sets the story in motion.
Garan – Cinder’s adoptive father, an inventor of considerable genius before his untimely death.
Gilles – A tavern keeper in Rieux.
Hunter – A subtle nod to the huntsman from Little Red Riding Hood, Hunter fights for money in an underground boxing club in Rieux.
Jacin – A Lunar soldier, madly in love with princess Winter.
Jael – Another Lunar official.
Jamal – Another member of the desert caravan, with Jina.
Jerrico – One of Queen Levana’s guards.
Kai – Among the most wearable names on the list, when Cinder opens, Prince Kai’s father is deathly ill.
Kaito – Kai’s full name.
Kwende – Another member of the desert caravan.
Logan – The Lunar doctor who may have saved the lost princess Selene.
Luc Arman – Son to Michelle, father of Scarlet.
Neils – Another member of the desert caravan.
Ran – Another Lunar soldier, with a connection to Wolf.
Roland – Another resident of Rieux.
Sage – Cress’s long-lost father.
Sunto – Son of Sacha, familiar to Cinder from her time in the New Beijing market.
Thorne – Carswell’s last name is Thorne. He prefers to answer to Captain, but many of the characters call him just Thorne.
Torin – Advisor to Kai, and his father before him.
Wolf – As in Big Bad. Except Meyer gives her Wolf a makeover.
Wynn – Another Lunar soldier, mentioned briefly in Scarlet.
Ze’ev – Wolf’s real name.
What do you think of the names from The Lunar Chronicles? Can you see any of them catching on?