Familiar Spirits

Sebastian

Latin from Greek

"person from ancient city of Sebastia, venerable"

With international flair and elegance, Sebastian is a saintly, Shakespearean and Disney-inspired choice: refined, classic-yet-unconventional, and totally in tune with other popular choices like…

Briar

Nature name, English word name

"a thorny patch"

This word name entered the US Top 1000 for both genders in 2015, though it premiered a little higher for girls. There are still more baby girls named Briar than baby boys -- 594 vs. 361 in 2021 --…

Valentine

Latin

"strength, health"

Valentine is an attractive Shakespearean name with romantic associations, but those very ties to the saint and the sentimental holiday have sent it into a decline, one which we think may be about to…

Cloud

Nature name

Like Sky and Sunshine, this fluffy name from the hippie 1970s has floated back onto the naming radar. It's similarity of Clyde and Claude help to ground it.

Lucifer

Latin

"light-bearer"

Lucifer is the name of the archangel cast into hell and while theologians disagree on whether he and Satan are separate beings, it long been on the list of forbidden names for religious and…

Alucard

Popular culture

"Dracula backwards"

While Alucard has the sound of names like Alaric, Arnoud, and Ealdwine, it is in fact literally Dracula spelled backwards. Used in various bits of media over the years, it is perhaps best associated…

Archimedes

Greek

"master planner"

Archimedes of Syracuse was a famous Ancient Greek thinker, especially in the fields of mathematics and sciences. He made important contributions to geometry and calculus. His name was a perfect…

Fenris

Norse

"fen-dweller"

Variation of Fenrir.