Halloween-Inspired Baby Names Meant for the Classic Horror Fan in All of Us

Jennifer Mattern and Kim Grundy
·4 min read
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Halloween may not be everybody’s cup of tea (or fake blood) when it comes to baby-name inspiration, but you hard-core Halloween lovers know who you are. We know many of you are eager to find cool ways to honor your fave holiday and October baby with names that are the perfect mix of witchy, twitchy, old-school scream-y fun. Hey, the Game of Thrones and Harry Potter superfans can do it — so why can’t we? We’ve got subtle ideas that won’t freak out the fam, and twists on classic horror characters of TV and film that are juuuuust right. You can trust us. (But don’t ever open the cellar door at night. That’s just obvious.)

And don’t be afraid to experiment! Some of these names may just have a meaning or a variation that will hit the spot — without the scare. We love when parents have fun with baby names. It always means there will be great stories years down the line … when little Riley, Carrie and Bates ask exactly how they got their names.

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Cool Boy Names: Straight-Up Horror Flicks

  • Jason (Friday the 13th)

  • Ben (Night of the Living Dead)

  • Cole (Sixth Sense)

  • Malachi (Children of the Corn)

  • Bela (as in Bela Lugosi, the O.G. Dracula, very Eastern Euro-chic)

  • Jack (An American Werewolf in London)

  • Michael (Myers, from Halloween)

  • Freddy/Freddie (Krueger, from A Nightmare on Elm Street, you could always go for Frederick)

  • Damien/Damian (The Omen)

  • Ichabod (Crane, from Sleepy Hollow, maybe best as a middle name, eh?)

  • Cain (The Exorcism of Emily Rose, Kane works too)

  • Norman (Psycho, Normand or Normandy is a cool Francophile gender-fluid variant)

  • Bates (another nod to Psycho)

  • Hannibal (Silence of the Lambs, but Han is a nice, less chompy compromise)

  • Micah (Paranormal Activity, super for the Biblically-oriented extended families, score!)

Cool Girl Names: Straight-Up Horror Flicks:

  • Tangina (Poltergeist)

  • Akasha (Queen of the Damned)

  • Asami (Audition)

  • Elvira (Mistress of the Dark, Elmira is a nice twist too)

  • Carrie (Carrie, duh)

  • Laurie (Halloween)

  • Annabelle (Annabelle)

  • Sil (Species)

  • Rose (Get Out)

  • Clarice (Silence of the Lambs)

  • Sadako (Ring, Japanese version)

  • Samara (The Ring)

  • Morticia (The Addams Family, if that’s too heavy, there’s always Tisha)

  • Regan (The Exorcist)

  • Rosemary (Rosemary’s Baby)

  • Katarina (Sleepy Hollow)

  • Riley (Aliens)

  • Sidney (Prescott, from Scream)

Cool Girl Names: Witches, Vampires & Slayers

  • Samantha (Bewitched)

  • Tabitha (Bewitched, gotta love that ’60s vibe, too)

  • Sabrina (Sabrina, the Teenage Witch)

  • Elphaba (Wicked, you can call her Elphie too, just like Glinda does)

  • Glinda (Wicked)

  • Nessarose (Wicked)

  • Eli (Let The Right One In, Ellie is a pretty American variant)

  • Prudence (Charmed)

  • Piper (Charmed)

  • Phoebe (Charmed)

  • Paige (Charmed)

  • Buffy (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

  • Willow (Buffy the Vampire Slayer)

  • Esme (Twilight)

  • Rosalie (Twilight)

  • Irina (Twilight)

  • Zafrina (Twilight)

  • Lorena (True Blood)

  • Nan (True Blood, Nanette is a lovely twist)

  • Sophie-Anne (True Blood, any combo with a hyphen will give you a dreamy secret vampire sound)

  • Michonne (The Walking Dead)

  • Judith (The Walking Dead)

Cool Boy Names: Witches, Vampires & Slayers

  • Fiyero (Wicked)

  • Armad (The Vampire Chronicles)

  • Emmett (Twilight)

  • Jasper (Twilight)

  • Alistair (Twilight)

  • Laurent (Twilight)

  • Demetri/Dimitri (Twilight)

  • Talbot (True Blood)

  • Magnus (True Blood)

  • Godric (True Blood)

  • Negan (The Walking Dead)

  • Glenn (The Walking Dead)

  • Dixon (The Walking Dead — or you could go with Daryl)

Generally Dark, Broody, Goth, Delightfully Unfortunate Names Worth Considering for Any Gender

  • Vlad (as in, uh, The Impaler)

  • Absinthe (as in that mystical, nasty green drink that will make you see nightmarish visions)

  • Belladonna (poisonous flora FTW!)

  • Hemlock (more poisonous flora!)

  • Crimson (bloody beautiful, no?)

  • Ebony/Ebon

  • Griselda/Gris

  • Ivy/Ives

  • Lilith (a female demon in Hebrew culture, or Frasier’s tightly wound ex-wife)

  • Maleficent

  • Noire

  • Ursula

  • Desdemona

  • Ophelia

  • Hamlet

  • Macbeth

  • Iago

So there you go — spiked, twisted, ghoulishly fun inspiration for all you Halloween lovers. We guarantee there’s a way to sneak a little of your favorite holiday into your baby’s name … but don’t come running to us if they start showing signs of — shall we say — interesting behavior. Boo!

Don’t miss SheKnows’ comprehensive baby name database with 30,000+ names to explore!

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