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A form of Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Names from The Bible tend to imposing and vaguely supernatural.
See also Demons Or Angels and Religious Names. Name of Cain is a popular example.
Examples of Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Biblical Names include:
Absalom[]
In Jewish tradition, the name Absalom is considered banned or at least bad luck to give to a child, given that the character led a revolt against his father. Doubles as an Ironic Name since it literally means "father of peace."
Comic Books[]
- There used to be a Doctor Who spin-off comic called "Abslom Daak, Dalek Killer".
Literature[]
- The Canterbury Tales have a Butt Monkey character with this name, but that's probably more in reference to him being "pretty" (as was the Biblical character) than because of ill-omens associated with the name.
- Cry the Beloved Country features Absalom Kumalo, son of an African preacher who ultimately ends up killing a man (to be fair, it was something of an accident).
Live-Action TV[]
- Buffy the Vampire Slayer vampire
Video Games[]
- There is also a Pokémon named Absol, which is considered a bad omen due to its attraction to catastrophe.
Adam[]
Anime[]
- The first, and by far the most powerful angel in Neon Genesis Evangelion. The mere act of waking up this being wiped out half the population of earth and changed most of the major landmass. Oh, and when Adam woke up it's four wings were large enough to be visible from space.
Literature[]
- There's the Adam from Good Omens.
- The monster in the original Frankenstein was named Adam, according to Mary Shelley.
Live-Action TV[]
- Adam Monroe/Takezo Kensei, of Heroes who true to his name is the forerunner of all of the other superpowered people.
- Adam, Frankensteinian Magitek demon-bot on Season 4 of Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Video Games[]
- ADAM and EVE in Bioshock.
- Eve in Parasite Eve.
Eden[]
Film[]
- One of the two villains from The Proposition is named Eden Fletcher. His first name kind of gets him on here. Since he's an evil decadent type, and, better yet, a Smug Snake Snake his name makes perfect symbolic sense.
Live-Action TV[]
- Villain Eden McCain, from Heroes, a Company operative with the power of persuasion.
Video Games[]
- Eden, the ultimate summon from Final Fantasy VIII.
- The malfunctioning supercomputer in Rez and Child of Eden.
- Project Eden.
Real Life[]
- The Edens Expressway in Chicago, Illinois.
Gog and/or Magog[]
Comic Books[]
- The titular Anti-Hero of Kingdom Come. Although this may be a subversion, as the character was recently reintroduced in the pages of JSA as a Legacy Character and seems to be reforming from his Well-Intentioned Extremist self.
- Alien foe of Spider-Man
Literature[]
- Gog and Magog are the names of the blacksmith's hulking, mentally challenged slaves in the Sea of Trolls book.
- Aragog, the Giant Spider from the Harry Potter books.
- [StarWarsGalaxyOfFear: Borborygmus Gog].
Live-Action TV[]
- The Magog are a race of Nightmare Fuel aliens in Andromeda.
- Mesogog. Mix of "Gog" and "Mesozoic".
Video Games[]
- Gogs and Magogs are base-level creatures of the "inferno" town type in Heroes of Might and Magic III.
- The Gronns Goc and Magoc in World of Warcraft.
- The first boss in Final Fantasy XIII-2 is Gogmagog.
Lazarus[]
Any medical experiment named "Project Lazarus", run by a Dr. Lazarus, or building "the Lazarus Device" will be intended to cheat death or even return the dead to life. As sure as night follows day, it will go horribly wrong.
Film[]
- Except in Galaxy Quest.
Live-Action TV[]
- The Tenth Doctor's incident with, wouldn't you know it, a Dr. Lazarus. The episode title was "The Lazarus Experiment."
- Sanctuary had the Lazarus virus and while it only infected abnormals not human, the infected nonetheless became hazardous to human health as a result of the disease. Among abnormals it was also lethal.
Video Games[]
- Averted in Mass Effect apparently.
- Archbishop Lazarus of Tristram. If Big D isn't running the show, he is. Then again, Big D is always running the show. Still, the guy's a bastard.
- Father Lazarus, a Forsaken (read: undead) priest trainer in World of Warcraft.
- Referenced in Command and Conquer with the stealth tank, which uses the Lazarus Shield to camouflage itself.
- Lazarus in Deus Ex Human Revolution is a radio host, focusing on conspiracy theories. Most of the time he's right.
- The Big Bad in the obscure PSX driving combat game Auto Destruct.
- Averted by the Lazarus Concordance, the elders of the Lost Land in the Video Game/{{Turok} series.
Western Animation[]
- Ra's al Ghul's Lazarus Pit in Batman: Under the Red Hood goes terribly awry
Moloch[]
A Biblical god/demon who according to his enemies went in for child sacrifice by fire.
Comic Books[]
- A (former) crime boss in Watchmen, though he's well past his prime in most of the scenes featuring him.
Literature[]
Live-Action TV[]
- The techno demon on Buffy the Vampire Slayer.
Video Games[]
- A boss in the Mortal Kombat series.
- Mortimer and Randolph Moloch, twins in the Stormwind Stockade.
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"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Randolph Moloch, and I will be killing you all today." |
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Web Comics[]
- Moloch von Zinzer really sounds like a name to run away from, but compared to some of the other characters he's a fuzzy-wuzzy teddy bear.
Nimrod[]
An ancient conqueror mentioned only once in Genesis. Given that the first half sounds like a Portmaneau of "numb" and "dim," and what "rod" can mean, this name's level of badass may have decayed a bit by now. (Bugs Bunny calling Elmer Fudd "Nimrod"[1] certainly didn't help.)
Comic Books[]
- Shares the same name as a robot from the future.
- Similarly, there's a serial killer named Nimrod ("a mighty hunter before the Lord" and all) in The Doll's House from Sandman. Which also has the Corinthian, named for the Biblical symbolism of "through a glass, darkly" (as a dark mirror of humanity) as well as for the the mode of behavior, with his particular twist on it.
Live-Action TV[]
- A subversion in the Doctor Who episode "Ghost Light". Nimrod is the name of the original Big Bad's Neanderthal butler, and a worshipper of the actual Big Bad, a Physical God known only as Light, but he's a good guy.
Tabletop Games[]
- Demonic Nimrods are type of Demon in Dungeons and Dragons.
Samson[]
The guy who killed an entire army with the jawbone of an ass.
Comic Books[]
- Incredible Hulk Genius Bruiser Doc Samson.
Live-Action TV[]
- Samson Gray, Sylar's father on Heroes.
- An excellent zig-zag of the trope is Samson from Carnivale, who is the dwarf manager of the carnival. He isn't particularly evil or physically imposing, but he was once a weightlifter and is certainly closer to the supernatural elements of the show than other characters.
Western Animation[]
- Brock Samson from The Venture Brothers The man is a walking TERROR. He once proposed weaponizing a jawbone, which (combined with his oft-mocked mullet) are subtle little Shout Outs to the original.
Zillah[]
The wife of Lamech (descendant of Cain). No relation to 'Zilla, the Fan Nickname for the American Godzilla.
Anime and Manga[]
- However, as Toei so capably showed us, Zillah without the H is a horrible failure.
Literature[]
- Poppy Z. Brite's Lost Souls's character. Interestingly, Brite's Zillah is male.
- The third book in Madeleine L'Engle's Time Quartet, A Swiftly Tilting Planet, revolves around women of a particular line all named "Zillah/Zylle/Zyll". Zillah is actually the middle name of Meg's mother in law, who sets the events of the story into motion and is central to the conflict.
Others[]
Anime[]
- Tobias, the "dreaded" competitive Darkrai trainer from Pokémon.
Film[]
- Subverted in Diggstown with Gabriel Caine, who, while he is a con man, is still basically good and is unquestionably one of the heroes of the story.
- Jezebel, in Jacob's Ladder.
Literature[]
- Captain Ahab, named after an evil king from the Old Testament.
- Ahab's wife Jezebel qualifies as well. In the first Kingdom Keepers book, Finn runs across a girl named Jez, who flat out admits it's short for Jezebel, from The Bible. Not being a biblical scholar, Finn fails to realize he should be worried.
- COMMISSAR CIAPHAS CAIN, HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!!!, named after TWO biblical villains (Joseph Caiaphas was the high priest who had Jesus condemned to death)
- In Isaac Asimov's Caves of Steel, our hero Elijah is married to a woman named Jezebel.
Live-Action TV[]
- Lost has a lot of Biblical names. Ironically, the show's resident Magnificent Bastard is named Benjamin. This should refer to Jacob, too, now that Ben has started to turn into the real powers' Butt Monkey.
- Carnivale, fittingly enough for a show about Biblical catastrophes and superpowered beings, has many Biblical names, but not among the villains. The only Biblical connection on the dark side is Tommy Dolan, his first name being an excellent and prophetic reference to "doubting Thomas".
- The fourth season of Heroes featured as its Big Bad one Samuel Sullivan, a Dark Messiah who promised to lead the "specials" to a promised land where they would be free of persecution. In the Bible, Samuel is the prophet who essentially founded the Kingdom of Israel.
Newspaper Comics[]
- Captain Judas from Terry and the Pirates.
Video Games[]
- There are three Jezebel in World of Warcraft: Jezebel Bican, a simple supplies vendor; Shadowmistress Jezebel Hawke, a warlock; and the Je'Tze's Bell, an item. There's also Jacob Alerius, a Paladin.
- The Flood from Halo.
- Marathon had a rejected monster called the Armageddon Beast.
- The Ark of Napishtim from Ys VI is named after the Ark of Ut-napishtim, the Epic of Gilgamesh's analog of Noah.
Web Comics[]
- In Impure Blood, the Abomination, the long term sole survivor of every Gladiator Games. When Dara rescues him she immediately asks for his real name.
Western Animation[]
- Also on Jimmy Two-Shoes, Lucius' girlfriend is named Jez, though the connection is never explicitly stated.
- Parodied on Aqua Teen Hunger Force, when Meatwad attempts to name what appears to be a mini-Shake that appeared on their doorstep:
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"I'm gonna name you Jesus...Ezekiel...Jesus. And that's from the Bible." |
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- David Xanatos, the father of multiple trope categories?
- ↑ Elmer Fudd, of course, being an utterly incompetent hunter, the exact opposite of Nimrod's reputation among the Bible's authors.