Classics Baby Name Suggestions
Eidolon Parenting Special
You’ve done the classics costume thing and the classics tattoo thing. You’ve given your pets some amazing classics-themed names and your loved ones have come to expect only the dorkiest of Greco-Roman gifts and cards from you. Now you face the daunting task of bestowing upon a human being the name that everyone will call them for the rest of their lives … or at least until they can legally change their name without your permission. Which classics-themed name should you choose? As a professional baby-maker and a quasi-professional Classicist, I am uniquely positioned to advise.
Mainstream Classics names
Jason, April, May, June, Doris, Julia, Miranda, Melissa, Clara, Peter, Marcus, Amanda, Laura, Monica, Patrick, Victor/ia, Alexa/nder, Melanie
Classics names too anatomical to use
Pupienus, Balbinus, Uranus, Candida, Lupus, Regina
Classics names too terrible to use
Brutus, Hades, Medea, Caligula, Hannibal, Nero, Lucifer, Pontius, Melania
Classics names that abide by current naming trends
Lydia, January, August, Lucinda, Agrippa, Ulysses, Cecilia, Amadeus, Beatrix, Carina, Ophelia, Leo, Rose
Old fashioned classics names
Daphne, Anthony, Marcus, Claudia, Barbara, Leona, Natalie, Patricia, Veronica, Bernice, Dorothy, Anastasia, Catherine
Medical names
Galen, Hippocrates, Jason, Rufus, Soranus
Philosophy names
Socrates, Plato, Lucretius, Zeno, Hypatia, Diotima, Philo, Cato, Seneca
Historical classics names
Cyrus, Julian, Julia, Marc Antony, Cleo(patra)
Classics words that usually aren’t used as names that some hipster might like
Semper, Septa, Alpha, Zeta, Suburba, October
Modern versions of classics names
Caio, Amador, Angela, Delphine
Classics names for the literary minded
Homer, Vergil, Horace, Terence, Seneca, Marcus (Cicero), Tully, Ulysses, Agatha, Corinna, Lucian
Classics names for the literally minded
Primus, Magnus, Zoe, Vivian, Decimus
Pantheon names
Athena, Minerva, Iris, Cosmo, Jove, Diana, Apollo, Artemis
Classics names with mainstream nicknames
Amy (<Amanda, Amelia), Minnie (>Minerva), Ginny (>Virginia), Cece (>Cecilia), Patty (>Hypatia)
Biblical classics names
Genesis, Mark, Luke, Peter, Christopher, Seraphina
Classics place name names
Troy, Lydia, Thalia, Roman, Urban, Sidonia, Doris, Luke
Classics names with scifi pedigrees
Tiberius, Cassian, Galen, Apollo, Gaius, Atreides
Classics names with Harry Potter pedigrees
Minerva, Sybill, Remus, Albus, Hermione, Ludo, Sirius, Dedalus, Argus, Filius, Merope, Rubeus, Silvanus, Augusta, Luna, Scorpius, Olympe, Theodore, Antioch, Cadmus, Ignotus, Aurora, Pomona, Andromeda, Nymphadora, Septima
Classics names with Harry Potter pedigrees, mainstream
Amelia, Penelope, Justin, Angelina, Helena, Harry, Ron, Molly, Arthur, Fred, George, Charlie, Bill
Classics names with Harry Potter pedigrees, evil
Alecto, Amycus, Quirinus, Marcus, Gregory, Rodolphus, Bellatrix, Lucius, Peter, Augustus
Classics names with Harry Potter pedigrees, it’s complicated
Viktor, Severus, Cornelius, Draco, Narcissa, Rufus, Horace, Pius, Phineas, Regulus, Xenophilius
Classics names of uncertain derivation
Cecilia, Amelia, Julius, Ignatius, Camille
Classical muse names
Thalia, Clio, Terpsichore, Urania, Euterpe, Calliope, Erato
One syllable classics names
Pax, Max, Pan, Jove, Zeus, Mars, Gus
Metamorphic classics names
Callisto, Daphne, Laura, Myrrha, Scylla, Acanthis, Arachne
Witchy classics names
Circe, Hecate, Minerva, Medea, Canidia
Classics names if you can ignore the rape connotation
Lucretia, Niobe, Helen, Cassandra, Daphne, Laurel, Phaedra*
Classics names if you can ignore the suicide connotation
Cleopatra, Mark Antony, Amata, Dido, Seneca, Ajax, Antigone, Glauce, Sphinx
Classics names if you can ignore the incest connotation
Myrrha, Antigone, Adonis, Jocasta, Oedipus, Ismene
Classics names with zero horrible associations
Irene, Iris, Felix, Celeste
Professional classics names
Consul, Jason, Pontifex, Medicus
Back to nature classics names
Mare, Eo, Iris, Vespa, Margarita, Silvester, Diamantina, Flora, Melia
Virtuous classics names
Agatha/on, Irene, Amity, Felicia, Felix, Clara, Florence, Pius, Placida/o, Prudentia, Serena, Verena, Agape, Chara, Elpida
Sarah Elizabeth Scullin has named three humans; any Classical resonances are incidental.
