Cullen is an Irish surname, from O Cuilinn, "descendant of Cuileann", a personal name that goes back to the word for "holly". It owes its rise as a first name to Edward Cullen, the vampire hero of Stephenie Meyer's Twilight novels and films. Cullen ranked number 567 in 2000, peaked at number 413 in 2010 at the height of the Twilight craze and has since dropped out of the top 1000, standing at number 1108 in 2025.