Nameberry Picks: 12 Most Modern Mythic Names

Wow, my hippie hometown was ahead of the times! There was a Jupiter in my class and an Orion in my sister’s (not siblings either!) as well as an Andromeda (who went by Dee), an Autumn (girl), a Spring Dawn (girl), a Django, and an Eau-Vive (girl)..and I graduated in 1997.

I went to college with a girl from Greece named Thalassa. Very cool name. I adore the name Clio too!

Clio is lovely, but I adore Cleo. Looks richer to me. Flora, though has my heart. So sweet and strong! One I think is usable but not on this list is my favorite mythological guy: Apollo. Even as a first with a simple surname. Anyone else ever watch Rockyandd think Apollo Creed had the coolest name, hands down? I like Apollo better than Zeus, anyway. Zeus is a dog name for me!

I think Clio, Flora, Maia, Orion, and Thalia are perfectly usable. Flora is my favorite of them.

Juno seems very trendy/pop culture to me at the moment, and Thalassa is a lot of name.

I think Echo, Jupiter, Mars, Venus, and Zeus are just WAY too much trouble for an ordinary kid.

Are Thalassa and Thalia pronounced with a th- sound or a hard t- sound?

I have friends named Talia, Echo (more than one), Venus, and Neptune (all girls). Venus and Neptune are sisters, but other than that my friends aren’t related or even from the same country. I would be fascinated to find the other names on this list on real flesh-and-blood people.

What a great post!

For a while, I had Clio and Thalia on my “if I ever have twins” list. I think they’d be lovely for sisters. Flora is beautiful, and I’ve known a couple boys with Orion as either the first or middle name. I’m intrigued by Thalassa — I’ve never heard it before. How exactly is it pronounced? I’m saying thuh-LASS-uh, but there’s a good chance that’s not correct.

And you really think Echo is usable? It’s one I’ve always WANTED to be usable, but I’m not so sure it is.

I love Clio, Echo (or Ekko) and Thalia!

Echo is a name I would use if I ever lost my mind and used an unusual name!

I think Juno is lovely, and I don’t think a three-year-old movie makes it pop culture/trendy–it’s such an old name! Clio is fantastic, and I love Orion too. Maybe I just love O names?

I like the Norse Gods too… Thor, Odin, Loki, Freya

I know an Echo and a Juno, but they’re boys.

Could Orpheus work or is that too out there/too close to Morpheus to use?

Orpheus is 1) too close to Morpheus, IMO and 2) only usable if you plan on raising a kid who never ever researches what his name means.

It’s THAH-luh-sah and THAL-ya. If you wanna do it Greek style.

Also the 1st A in both names is pronounced is like AH (what a relief), not like AL(-bert).

Aww, Catherine, Orpheus would make an awesome middle name! Something like: James Orpheus would be stellar, in my book. I think Orpheus is rather tragic, so he fits nicely with Cassandra to me. (I actually know a sibset of Cassandra Diane & Adam Orpheus, pretty!)

I like mythological names quite a bit!

Love the names Flora and Clio (but the last is also used for a type of car in Europe), Thalia and Juno are really pretty.

Mars = chocolate bar
Orion not nicely pronounced in the Netherlands, but would be a good second name

I have a Jupiter in my class (9th grade), but it’s a nickname (for William, long story). It’s what EVERYONE calls him though. Even the teachers. And my name is Freya.

I know a guy in his early 20s named Orion. I go to school with a boy whose middle name is Zeus.

love so many of these! I think Calliope is pretty accessible, especially considering the nn Callie.

I’ve always loved loved loved Isis!!

I would not recommend using a lot of these due to bad connotations. The Greeks have a habit of ending their myths somewhat tragically. Especially Echo. Yes, it’s a cool name, but she was a cursed nymph who died after the man she loved (Narcissus– and he only loved himself, not her) perished (he was obsessed with his reflection and forgot to eat and drink). That said, many Greek mythological names are very beautiful. Some really pretty ones that don’t die tragically or anything:
Gaea- Mother Earth, basically.
Rhea- Mother of about half of the major Greek gods/godesses.
Hestia- Nicest of all the gods/godesses.
Leto- Kind mother of Apollo and Artemis.
Ilithyia- Minor godess of childbirth.
Eos- Lovely dawn.
Europa- One of Zeus’s wives (so very beautiful) and queen of Crete.
Io- One of Zeus’s wives. He changed her into a cow, which the jealous Hera took. Eventually she escaped Hera and her wrath and ran to Egypt, where she was proclaimed a godess.
Andromeda- Beautiful wife of Perseus.

I think my name is a pretty modern Greek name. My name is Demetria. My whole family calls me by my full name, my friends and “peers” call me Demi, and a few closer friends call me Tria kinda as a joke. My sisters have greek names too. There’s Alexandra, we sometimes call her Xandra and Calyncia (my parents mispronounced a name and came up with that) Calyncia is kind of like Callista who was a Greek goddess and constellation.

Why have you left out Xanthe?

I love Icarus, Artemis, and Arcadia. I used Icarus for my cat. I think there is a strong possibility of my using the latter two for daughters…