Yes, today is the Ides of March (which really just means the mid-point of the month),  yet unless you’re Julius Caesar, there’s no reason to beware.  But Julius Caesar does bring to mind William Shakespeare, so this seems like a good time to look at Shakespeare names beyond Juliet and Jessica, Richard and Romeo, to some of the more underappreciated names used by the Bard in his comedies and tragedies.

Some of Shakespeare’s most distinctive, most villainous names will probably always be verboten, such as Iago, which on the surface would seem to have the makings of a perfect I-beginning, o-ending name.  Other baddies, though, such as Cassius and Edmund and Regan, have escaped having their reputations permanently ruined.

So here are the Nameberry Picks for the 12 best underused Shakespeare names.

Balthasar/Balthazar—Balthasar was the name assumed by Portia when disguised as a boy in The Merchant of Venice, as well as being one of the three Wise Men of the Orient who brought gifts to the infant Jesus.  Balthazar has been associated in modern times with the acting member of the Getty family, who has a son with the equally Shakespearean name of Cassius.

Cassio–  Cassio is a young and handsome Florentine solider who serves under Othello, Cassio  actually being his last name—his first being Michael–an implausible choice for an Italian.  Cassio just might conceivable slipstream along in the wake of the related, growing-in-popularity Cassius.

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