The Lunar Chronicles Name Meanings
About a year and a half ago, I made a post about some Lunar Chronicles characters’ name meanings. I thought it would be fun to dive back into that with an extended list of all of the significant meanings.
Carswell (where the watercress grows): Watercress. Cress. The ship has sailed.
Ze’ve (wolf): Wolf’s name literally means “wolf.” Marissa Meyer has blown our minds once more.
Darnel (hidden place): Both Darnels spent the series in hidden places. Cress was hidden away in a satellite for all of her life. Also, her dad also hid undercover in the Commonwealth for about that long before running to Africa.
Dmitri (Earth lover): He changed his name to Dmitri when he came to Earth. Saying you love a planet seems to fool its inhabitants.
Erland (foreigner): He was a foreigner on Earth because he was a Lunar.
Sage (wise one; learned): He was a doctor and he hid in the Commonwealth for about 16 years without any problems. He was one pretty smart dude.
Konn (candid counselor): He was Kai’s advisor and basically counseled him on what to do.
Torin (chief): He was the chief when Kai wasn’t there.
Evret (brave): He watched his wife die before his eyes. He married a lovesick girl that he didn’t care for just to protect his daughter. I’d say he’s pretty brave to go through everything that happened with Levana.
Hayle (lives in the hall): Because Evret was a guard, his job was to stand in the halls for hours at a time. That was most of his life.
Liam (strong-willed warrior; unwavering/resolute protector): Firstly, Kinney basically saved Jacin when he inquired about the bioelectricity device during the trial at the beginning of Winter. That’s what you call a protector. As a guard, he was a warrior in the revolution with lots of will to fight.
Garan (guardian): He was Cinder’s guardian.
Cinder (ash): Ash and cinder are synonyms. The definition of cinder is “a small piece of partly burned coal or wood that has stopped giving off flames but still has combustible matter in it.” Cinder was partly burned in the fire, but she still had some parts that were salvaged.
Jannali (the place of the moon): Jannali was Levana and Channary’s mother. She was the ruler of the moon.
Channary (moon-faced girl): She prided herself on her looks, which are believed to be purely Lunar genetics. The girl’s face is of the moon.
Levana (rise; Roman goddess of childbirth): After attempting to kill Cinder, Levana rises to power as Queen. The fact that she shares her name with the Roman goddess of childbirth is ironic because she never had kids, never cared for her stepdaughter, and actually tried to kill her niece.
Selene (moon; brightness; Greek goddess of the moon): She’s a Lunar and she’s the savior for the people of Luna. She was the bright light in a dark situation. All of the conspiracies about her made her seem as powerful as a goddess if she were found.
