This was originally posted on October 22, 2012
October is the time to get festive. With Halloween just around the corner, followed closely by Christmas, we are heading into the winter festive season. This time will be even more exciting for those mothers-to-be who are approaching their due date. What better way to get into the festive spirit than to name your child after the festival they were born around? It would certainly give them an unusual, unique name with lots of story behind it.
We take a look at the best Halloween inspired baby names.
Girls
The most obvious Halloween inspired names for girls have to come from famous witches. For these you could look to television, film, myths, folklore and even book characters for inspiration. Names you could choose from include Belladonna (a witch in both The Worst Witch and Which Witch?), Circe (from Homer’s Odyssey), Elphaba (from Wicked), Galadriel (Lord of the Rings), Hermione (Harry Potter), Mildred (The Worst Witch), Piper, Pru, Paige and Phoebe (who all appear as the Charmed sisters in Charmed), Mab and Morgan Le Fey (English folklore), and many more from Greek mythology such as Medea, Medusa and Arachne.
Cats are also associated with Halloween. Some say a black cat will bring you bad luck, others believe cats are the perfect sidekick for a witch. Either way, there are plenty of cat inspired names perfect for a little girl. Cat, obviously, is the first one. It derives from the name Catherine. Caterina, Caitlin, Catelin, Catherin are all variations of this popular name, and all names which can be shortened to ‘Cat’. Other cute feline names include Kitty and Tabby.
Boys
For boys, you might like to be inspired by some powerful figures in mythology. Greek myths offer us names such as Hades (the ruler of the underworld), Ares (the god of war), Dionysus (god of festivities), Chaos (one of the first gods), and Cronos (a powerful titan). You might also like to look at names of fictional or theological demons. Alichino is from Dante’s Inferno, while the name Azreal makes an appearance in the film Dogma. Demon names beginning with B are rather popular, such as Balthazar, Balrog and Baal. Other well-known demon names include Damien, Diablo, Hex, and of course, Satan and Lucifer, although we can’t see these catching on.
For both boys and girls, you could do worse than to look for vampire-inspired names. Thanks to the Twilight books and the subsequent boom of vampire fiction, films and television programmes, vampires have never before had such popularity. Names that parents could choose from include Bella, Edward, Jasper, Emmet, Esme, Alice, Rosalie and Carlisle (all from the Twilight series), as well as Elena, Jeremy, Caroline and Alaric (from The Vampire Diaries). Angel and Spike were popular names at the time of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, while Bill from True Blood might give you a great vampire inspired name. You could also draw inspiration from famous vampires such as Dracula, Nosferatu and Lilith.
While Halloween might sound like a festival you don’t want your child associated with, some Halloween inspired names are really quite pretty and can give your child a good story behind their name. Always remember to try to avoid something which might get your picked on at school and which may cause offense to others. For this reason, religious figures with negative connotations are probably best avoided.
