A new crop of names is heading in deathly and demonic directions

21^st-century parents leave no stone left unturned in their search for fresh new name ideas. Even if it means unearthing a dark spirit, like Abaddon the Destroyer or Asmodeus King of Demons. Those two are among the many dark, deathly and downright demonic baby names that have entered American name culture since the turn of the millennium.

Why demons and darkness? And why now?

The Emerging Names

The new names represent an impressive stylistic range, from ancient harbingers of death to contemporary-sounding word names. A sampling:

Death gods: Anubis, Hades, Morrigan, Osiris
Threats and Portents: Omen, Jinx, Nemesis, Grim
Demons and Angels of Death: Lucifer, Azrael, Leviathan, Samael
The Dead and Undead: Ghost, Wraith, Lestat, Alucard
Darkness Itself: Nox, Nyx, Noctis, Noir

Many of the parents who choose dark-tinged names take their inspiration from games, comics or other media. For instance, Deimos, the ancient Greek personification of fear, is a character name in games like God of War and Rainbow Six. The comics-based tv series Lucifer introduced Mazikeen, formerly just a type of demon, as the name of a popular character.

The dangerous edge may be part of the names’ allure, lending them sinister intrigue. Perhaps, though, the names just sound fresh and interesting and the darkness is incidental to the appeal. No matter parents’ motivations, the fact is that over a thousand American babies received these names last year, compared to zero in most years of the 20^th century.

Now vs. Then

The new openness to sinister associations reaches in all directions. In addition to demons and specters, parents are choosing more names of biblical villains like Jezebel and Goliath and fantasy villains like Thanos and Bellatrix. We’re seeing eerie place names like Arkham and Salem and threatening word names like Rage and Havoc.

All of the sinister name categories were available to past generations too. Our society has always enjoyed the thrill of horror. Sometimes the dark mystique even fueled baby name trends, as when the names Adrian and Damien appeared in the films Rosemary’s Baby and The Omen. But those were old, saintly human names that were shadowy only in style, not substance.

In contrast, the name Alucard (Dracula backwards) was shadow through and through. That name was a staple of vampire stories starting with the 1943 film Son of Dracula, yet it wasn’t seen as a baby name option before the 21st century. We drew a clear line between what we considered exciting and what we considered suitable names for children. The quest for unique names—for interesting names—is blurring that line today.

A name that stands out is a name that defies expectations. As our expectations adjust to a wider range of “normal”, we have to push the boundaries further for the same impact. For years we’ve been pushing as far as we can in the direction of light, with names like Angel, Heaven, Apollo and Messiah. And so we start to turn to the uncharted realms of darkness.