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A form of Names to Run Away From Really Fast that's pretty self explanatory. There's some names that just plain sound or are demonic. Since a few angels fell, some of the more malevolent sounding ones are included. (Note, not exactly accurate angel-ology goes on below, just FYI.)
See also Biblical Names.
Demonic names[]
Abyssion[]
Video Games[]
- From Tales of Symphonia, the last in a venerable line of demon hunters. He asks the party to schlep around the world collecting "Devil's Arms", for what turn out to be less-than-savory purposes. Still, with a name like that, you'd think the party would have guessed something was up.
- Abyssion is a dragon in World of Warcraft.
Ahriman[]
Big Bad of Zoroastrianism.
Literature[]
- There's Dr. Mark Ahriman in False Memory by Dean Koontz.
- The dark wizard in the book Which Witch by Eva Ibbotson. He's an Anti-Villain if not a Harmless Villain, though.
Tabletop Games[]
- The name of the most powerful Chaos sorcerer from Warhammer 40000.
Video Games[]
- Also a recurring monster in the Final Fantasy series.
- Big Bad of the Prince of Persia reboot.
- In Shin Megami Tensei III Nocturne, Hikawa's Demonic Sponsor is named Ahriman.
Amon[]
Anime and Manga[]
- Also, the demon possessing Akira Fudoh.
- Yu-Gi-Oh GX had Adrian Gecko as "Amon Garam" in the original Japanese versions.
Video Games[]
- Neverwinter Nights 2 has a demon binder named Ammon Jerro.
- Amon is the name for the Sinistral of Chaos in the first two Lufia games.
- In Shadow Hearts and its sequel, Amon is one part of a demonic trinity. It is first used by Albert Simon to combat Yuri. It later becomes the method Yuri uses to challenge the second games Big Bads who had made pacts with the other two points on the trinity, Asmodeus and Astaroth.
Western Animation[]
- Amon from The Legend of Korra
Real Life[]
- Real life Nazi Commandant Amon Goeth, featured in Schindler's List.
Azazel[]
Comic Books[]
- Bad guy in The Sandman, lots of mouths. Was meant to literally be the demon, though.
- Nightcrawler's father calls himself Azazel.
Film[]
- The body-hopping demon squaring off against Denzel Washington in Fallen.
Literature[]
- One of Woland's henchmen from The Master and Margarita. Notable in that, almost certainly, this actually is the demon Azazel.
Live-Action TV[]
- The Big Bad of Supernatural Seasons 1 and 2, revealed at the end of Season 4 to have actually have been taking orders from Lucifer.
- It's spelled with three a's in the television series Hex, but the intention is still there.
Video Games[]
- The latest (final boss) of the Tekken games.
- There's a little-known (and rather bad) c-64 game called Death Bringer. Its main villain is named Azazael.
Beelzebub[]
Fanfic[]
- Ronan 'Beelzbub', the "hero" of Naruto Veangance Revelaitons. However, it's unlikely the author actually knew the origin of the name and simply used it because it sounded cool. Although, it is a fitting name, considering how demonic and evil the character is .
Real Life[]
- A giant prehistoric toad has been named Beelzebufo.
Belial[]
Anime and Manga[]
- BelialVamdemon, Big Bad of Digimon Adventure 02. Digimon loves this, apparently. Was dubbed as MaloMyotismon, which still evokes the adjective variety, but fell flat. Then again, so did BelialVamdemon.
- Then again, according to some mythos, Belial was the very demon who tempted Lucifer.
- Momo Velia Deviluke from To Love Ru.
- Angel Sanctuary: The Mad Hatter, one of the Seven Satans of Hell, whose sin is Pride, was given the name Belial by God. Not only does Kaori Yuki mention that the name means useless, but Belial is also mentioned as being in love with Lucifer.
Film[]
- The deformed twin brother in Basket Case.
- Ultraman Belial, from the Ultra Series.
Literature[]
- Be'lal was one of the Forsaken in The Wheel of Time, until Moirane got him.
Video Games[]
- Berial is the name of a boss in Devil May Cry 4.
- In Sanctuary, this is the name of the Lord of Lies. In Diablo III, he's behind the trouble in Caldeum and you're charged with taking him out.
- Also Star Ocean Till the End of Time, in which he is fought alongside one named Belzeber (Baalzebul or Beelzebub) and subsequent to one named Azazer (Azazel). Oh, and the guy they work for is called Lucifer, though the American port, at least, changed it to Luther.
- Belial's used to such an extreme in Devil Survivor that not only do they have a boss named "Belial", but if a demon so much as has "Bel" in its name, you know it's going to be a tough fight. It even reaches the point where they renamed Baldr to Beldr so that he could fit the rule.
- Belial is the name of a boss in Wild Arms 4.
- Belias, the fire demon Esper in Final Fantasy XII.
- The bio stage boss in Gradius IV is supposed to be named this, although it's transliterated as "Viral" in the US manual.
- A Recurring Boss in Odin Sphere. Played straight in that while he is a dragon trusting of humanity, he was magically enthralled to the Wise Men as a result and winds up fighting every protagonist, with Cornelius as his final opponent.
- Oracle of Tao, the first Big Bad is Belial. The second is a fictitious angel named Estheriel.
- As a side note, one of the heroes is named Azrael, below.
Real Life[]
- Belial means "worthless" in Hebrew. In the Old Testament, wicked or lawless men were commonly referred to as "sons of Belial."
Damien[]
A recent development, as historically Damien is the name of at least one saint.
Film[]
- Of The Prophecy and The Omen fame
Web Comics[]
- Also features in El Goonish Shive.
Web Work[]
- In the web serie Flanders Company, the character Damien Parker is revealed toward season 2 to possess a second, psychotic personnality with awfully powerful psychic abilities. In order to distinguish the two personnalities from each other, the "good" personnality is referred as "Dr Parker", while the evil one is referred as "Damien".
Western Animation[]
- Damien, the son of Satan on South Park.
Demon[]
Anime and Manga[]
- Hiruma from Eyeshield 21 has the kanji for "demon" in his name, 魔. His name literally means "Devil in broad daylight"...
- The Demon sisters, the red-skinned girls who first appear as the new school queens in episode 6 of Panty and Stocking With Garterbelt. Guess what? They're demons.
Comic Books[]
Video Games[]
- Demonica from the Play Station 2 medieval take on Powerstone, Barbarian. Though her story is different, you can definitely see the resemblance in body stance, personality, and the reasons for despising humans.
- Akuma from Street Fighter.
- The Demon of the Western Sea Chousokabe Motochika and Shimazu the Ogre from Sengoku Basara.
Webcomics[]
- Girl Genius: One of the Mongfish sisters was named Demonica.
Western Animation[]
- Not to state the obvious or anything, but Demona from Gargoyles.
- The supervirus Daemon from Re Boot.
Real Life[]
- The Demon Core, a fourteen pound ball of Plutonium that was used in various experiments during the 1940s. Lab accidents lead to two researchers dying of acute radiation poisoning.
Devil[]
Anime and Manga[]
- Diavolo (Italian for "devil") from JoJo's Bizarre Adventure
- The Devil Z from Wangan Midnight, a car so powerful and dangerous that all previous owners have met with often fatal crashes.
- The Deviluke family from To Love Ru.
- Diablomon/Diaborumon from Digimon.
- The Tuffles in the Dragon Ball verse, whose name sounds like the German word for devil.
- Devil (Dark) Gundam in Mobile Fighter G Gundam.
Comic Books[]
- Devilance the Pursuer, member of Darkseid's elite.
Literature[]
- Mrs. Deverill from Raven's Gate
Film[]
- Mr DeVille in A Life Less Ordinary, the villain in a Celestial Bureaucracy story.
Live Action TV[]
- Devilicus from the "Warrior Angel" comics in Smallville. He was once best friends with Warrior Angel, a visitor from another planet, but later became one of his greatest enemies.
Video Games[]
- Diablo, the Lord of Terror and the lord of all demons from the game series bearing his name. This one may be too obvious to count in, however.
- Devil King from Devil Kings.
- Monster Hunter provides Diablos, the Unforgiving Tyrant, who is just as nasty as he sounds. Tri adds Deviljho to the lineup.
- Does being named after a chord specifically nicknamed "The Devil in Music" count? Because if it does, chalk one up for Ghetsis (G-Cis tritone) Harmonia, the biggest bad yet in Pokemon.
Western Animation[]
- Cruella de Vil, whose name has both "devil" and "evil" in it.
- Cruel Devil, indeed. Just run away now.
General Demonic Names[]
Anime and Manga[]
- In Higurashi no Naku Koro ni the Sonozaki sisters and their grandmother all have the character for 'oni' (demon) in their names. (The twins' mother did, too, but had to change the spelling when she got married.) It's an old family tradition...
- For Katekyo Hitman Reborn, the assassins of the Varia squad have names like Leviathan, Belphegor, and Mammon.
- Lala Satalin (for "Satan") Deviluke and Nana Asta (for "Astaroth") Deviluke from To Love Ru.
Literature[]
- Heavily subverted in Timothy Zahn's Heir to the Empire trilogy, as, when Han and Lando first meet Garm Bel Iblis, they disagree on whether he can be trusted, with Han sure he's on the up-and-up, while Lando is more suspicious. Readers familiar with this trope might tend to side with Lando, since Garm was the name, in Norse myth, of the Hound that guarded the gate to the underworld, while Bel, an alternate spelling of ba'al, in Christian demonology, was/is the name of a demon, while, Iblis is, in Arabic, an alternate name for Satan. It turns out, however, that Han is right and Garm Bel Iblis is a straightforward white-hat.
- The true name of the Dark One in The Wheel of Time is Shai'tan, an anglicized form of the Arabic word for Satan.
- The name given to Sandworms in Dune, "Shaitan."
Live Action TV[]
- Kings Vesper Abbadon, portrayed by Brian Cox.
Video Games[]
- Umineko no Naku Koro ni has the Quirky Miniboss Squad, the Seven Deadly Sins Sisters of Purgatory: Lucifer, Satan, Asmodeus, Beelzebub, Leviathan, Belphegor, and Mammon. Their main job in the series is carrying out human sacrifices to resurrect their mistress. (And Fan Service.)
- The demons from Ars Goetia - Ronove, Gaap, Zepar, and Furfur - also follow this trope pretty well, to the same extent as the Stakes of Purgatory.
- Caim from Drakengard. Named after a demon of the Ars Goetia. Rides a dragon. Completely batshit insane.
Webcomics[]
- Doc Scratch from Homestuck, an enigmatic, subtle figure with mysterious, vast powers and ambiguous morality at best, almost like Old Scratch himself.
Western Animation[]
- Chernabog (Slavic for "black god") in Fantasia.
Hell[]
Anime and Manga[]
- Doctor Hell from Mazinger Z. The dubbed version (Tranzor Z) was worried people might be offended by that, so they called him "Doctor Demon" instead. Yeah, that's a LOT better.
- Inu Yasha has Naraku, a pun on the word "Naraka", the term for Hell in Buddhism.
Mythology[]
- The Trope Namer and Ur Example would have to be Hel, the Norse Mythology death goddess. Her realm is also called Hel, and this name was later absorbed into the English language to refer to the Christian underworld.
Video Games[]
- Front Mission: Gun Hazard has Colonel Ark Hellbrand, whose military takeover of the Republic of Bergen kicks off the plot. Really, though, putting a guy with a last name like "Hellbrand" in charge of anything but maybe a fundraising dinner is Genre Blind bordering on suicidal.
Infernal[]
Video Games[]
- Infernals are giant golems of rock and fire summoned by demons and warlocks in Warcraft III and World of Warcraft.
Real Life[]
- Two words: Vampyroteuthis infernalis, literally "Vampire Squid from Hell".
Lucifer[]
See also Louis Cypher.
Anime and Manga[]
- Lucemon of Digimon Frontier.
- If you go for a variant on "beelzebub" or "satan", you'll generally look like you're trying too hard, though. Unless you're in Japan: Mr. Satan (from Dragon Ball Z). He's not evil, though, and while he'd be a Badass in any other Verse, in DBZ he's a Muggle with delusions of grandeur. Digimon also gives us Demon, Beelzebumon, and SkullSatamon. They were dubbed as Daemon, Beelzemon, and... SkullSatamon?!
- Ulquiorra Cifer from Bleach.
- Gid Lucion Deviluke in To Love Ru.
Comic Books[]
- Anti-Hero of his own Vertigo Comics comic book of the same name
Film[]
- Of course Louis/Luis Cypher (Angel Heart, The Matrix...)
Literature[]
- Also, Lucius Malfoy from Harry Potter
- Le Chiffre, of Casino Royale, gets bonus points for being a pretty good spy name even in translation - it means "the number" or "the cypher".
Video Games[]
- Similarily, "Lucien" is also a name to be found on dangerous people, as Oblivion, Fable, and RuneScape demonstrate.
- Lucifron, a monster which looks like this, in World of Warcraft.
- The Big Bad in the Ghosts N Goblins series, although he was renamed Loki or Rushifell in the American versions of some of the games.
Webcomics[]
- Girl Genius: Dr. Lucifer Mongfish, father of Lucrezia, Serpentina, and Demonica. They themselves qualify for different categories of this trope.
Western Animation[]
- Lucius Henious VII and his son, Beezy on Jimmy Two-Shoes.
- Lucifer the Cat from Disney's Cinderella, the original Basement Cat.
- Ben 10 Alien Force gives us Mike Morningstar. Morningstar, is of course, the most common translation for Lucifer.
Mephistopheles[]
- When the original Dr Faustus made his Deal with the Devil, this was the demon he made the deal with.
Anime and Manga[]
- In the manga, Ao no Exorcist (Blue Exorcist in America), Mephisto Pheles is the head of the Japan branch of the Order. GEE I WONDER WHY THAT SOUNDS SO FAMILIAR???
Comic Books[]
Live-Action TV[]
- The former king of Hell in Xena: Warrior Princess
Tabletop Games[]
- Warhammer 40000 doesn't use the entire name, but do have a Blood Angels Librarian called Mephiston.
Video Games[]
- One of the Undead's Dreadlord hero units in Warcraft 3 bears the name Mephistroth.
- Also Mephisto from the Diablo series.
- Sonic the Hedgehog has a twofer in Mephiles the Dark. Or maybe it doesn't, actually.
- The Big Bad Mephisto from Alundra 2.
- He is the Big Bad in the Hordes Of The Underdark expansion of Neverwinter Nights.
- An NPC in Demon's Souls that only appears after you acquire Pure Black Character Tendency, which is achieved by either killing off friendly NPC's or invading other players' worlds and killing them and after you kill Yurt the Silent Chieftain, her accomplice (who will also assassinate NPC's in the Nexus if left alive long enough). When you speak to her, she will send you on missions to assassinate friendly NPC's, offering valuable items in return. When all the missions are completed (when everyone in the Nexus and beyond are basically dead), she will attack and attempt to kill you. All of this is accompanied by her evil appearance and malicious voice.
Samael[]
Film[]
- The name of the self-replicating demon in the first Hellboy.
- Alec Leamas from The Spy Who Came in from the Cold, the Anti-Hero protagonist. His status as a double agent in a Crapsack World of Black and Gray Morality references the angel's simultaneous good and evil.
Literature[]
- The Forsaken Sammael from The Wheel of Time.
Comic Books[]
- Lucifer's original name from the Vertigo comic mentioned under that name.
Live-Action TV[]
Tabletop Games[]
- The Master of the Dark Angels 3rd Company, Sammael of the Ravenwing (which in itself probably qualifies for this trope).
Video Games[]
- The Demon Lord Samael from Darksiders.
- Dahlia informs the protagonist that the strange marks around Silent Hill are the mark of Samael, who will enter the world to destroy it if Harry does not take the talisman she gives him to the right place in time. She's lying. Her cult is trying to summon their "god," and the talisman allows her to break into Alessa's otherworld.
Web Comics[]
- Errant Story gives us Ian Samael, recently mind raped by an ancient elven goddess. On a good day, he's simply a Well-Intentioned Extremist. On a bad one, he's a Person of Mass Destruction, with very little regard for minor concerns like collateral damage.
Western Animation[]
- Considering the Theme Naming of the series, possibly Samuel "Samy" Garvin on Jimmy Two-Shoes.
Angelic names[]
For anyone who wishes to keep track, here is a convenient score card for the Angel team.
Angel (and variations)[]
Anime and Manga[]
- Evangeline Athanasia Katherine McDowell from Mahou Sensei Negima, has a hard K sound in the middle names just to increase the fear. Also an Overly Long Name, and the girl has a number of Titles to Run Away From Really Fast
- Black Butler has two: Angelina Durless (aka Madame Red) who is actually one-half of Jack The Ripper, and Angela Blanc the female identity of a hermaphroditic batshit crazy angel who wants to purify London by burning out the sin.
- The mind-rending, city-destroying, giant alien monsters of Neon Genesis Evangelion are called Angels. While some have almost beautiful shapes, most are bestial monsters or, seemingly, physically impossible (such as a 600-metre by 3 nanometre floating circle and a floating, proton beam-firing octahedron) Furthermore, the most beautiful Angel, Arael, a giant, glowing, winged creature in space, is the cause of the trope-naming Mind Rape, and is a prime example of Light Is Not Good.
Comic Books[]
- Angela in Spawn
Film[]
Literature[]
- Angela, the kooky but fearsome witch from the Inheritance Cycle.
Live-Action TV[]
- Angela from Heroes.
- If he's going by Angel, you're probably going to live. If he's calling himself Angelus, run like hell.
Real Life[]
- Destroying Angel mushrooms, which contain some of the deadliest known mycotoxins. Even touching one can kill you.
- The Angel of Death was the nickname of the infamous Nazi concentration camp doctor Josef Mengele.
Video Games[]
- Angelus from Drakengard.
Azrael[]
Anglicized form of the name for the Angel of Death in Islam and some Hebrew lore.
Anime and Manga[]
- Muruta Azrael of Gundam SEED, an arrogant, misogynistic, racist lobbyist and politician who seeks to kill every Coordinator in existence with nuclear weapons and uses drugged up Tykebombs as front-line Child Soldiers. Oh and he's a Sore Loser to boot. Start running now.
Comic Books[]
- Anti-heroes from the Batverse.
Film[]
- Demon in Dogma
Literature[]
- Asriel of His Dark Materials.
- The real guy shows up in Good Omens, and in one of the Discworld books.
- Azreal, the leader of the Poppy Warriors in the Gemma Doyle Trilogy.
Music[]
- The subject of "Azrael" by proto-prog group The Nice.
Tabletop Games[]
- Current Chapter Master of the Dark Angels in Warhammer 40000 is one Azrael.
Video Games[]
- Azurile from Dragon Warrior Monsters
- Izual from Diablo II is possibly a corruption of this name.
- A major villain in Chaos Legion.
- Indie fangame Final Fantasy: Time And Again has Azrael as the main character, who also happens to be the creator's webname, as a Dragoon. She's called "Azzie" in the game.
Western Animation[]
- Gargamel's pet cat in The Smurfs
Exodus[]
Possibly due to Xtreme Kool Letterz; and the vaguest recollection that it was something in the Bible; which is Significant. Baffling when you ponder that it means "exit."
Card Games[]
- Exodia, The Forbidden One will instantly win a Yu-Gi-Oh game when summoned.
Comic Books[]
- Exodus (born Bennet du Paris) is a Marvel Comics Super Villain.
Video Games[]
- The Exodar in World of Warcraft. Bonus points for being the Draenei's means of exit from Draenor.
- One way the Big Bad of Final Fantasy V was translated before it was officially settled to "Exdeath"; others have included "Exodia."
- The titular Big Bad of Ultima III: Exodus.
Gabriel[]
This one's a double whammy with the whole Angel of Death / left hand of God thing.
Anime and Manga[]
- The Angels in Neon Genesis Evangelion are all named after biblical angels except for the first two, which are named Adam and Lilith.
Film[]
- The possible real name of the main character in Van Helsing.
- Gabriel, the Big Bad of The Prophecy.
Literature[]
- Subverted with Percy Jackson and The Olympians's Jerkass stepdad "Smelly Gabe".
- And played completely straight in Far From the Madding Crowd with the character of Gabriel Oak
Live-Action TV[]
- Sylar's real name in Heroes
- Simon and River's dad from Firefly
- Also the name of the mysterious "other" ghost whisperer on Ghost Whisperer.
- Subverted in Carnivale. Gabriel is the angelic, child-like strongman son of Ruthie the snake charmer. He's only dangerous when someone hurts his momma.
Tabletop Games[]
- The Force Commander from Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War. Bonus points for his name being Gabriel Angelos.
Raphael[]
Live-Action TV[]
- The serial killer in the Criminal Minds two-parter "The Big Game"/"Revelations" has an alternate personality who believes himself to be the actual, biblical one.
- On Supernatural he is the voice of religious fundamentalism and zealotry in heaven. Oh that, and he wants to restart the apocalypse which the Winchester boys had previously averted.
Video Games[]
- Raphael Sorel from the Soul Series.
Western Animation[]
Raziel[]
Anime and Manga[]
- From Katekyo Hitman Reborn, we have a Knife Nut crown prince who wants to off his equally insane younger twin Belphegor and claim the throne.
- Averted with Raziel from Christopher Moore's verse. While he can come off as quite terrifying, he's actually the origin of Dumb Blonde jokes, and with good reason. Sent to Earth to grant the Christmas wish of a distraught child, he intends to bring back a Mall Santa the kid saw inadvertently killed, but winds up resurrecting an entire graveyard worth of brain-hungry zombies. In Lamb, tops himself over and over, leading to pinnacle example of Raziel-ness:
"The angel confided in me that he is going to ask the Lord if he can become Spider-Man" |
Tabletop Games[]
- Raziel is one of the Celestial Hebdomad from the Book of Exalted Deeds from 'Dungeons and Dragons third edition. He's the most warlike of the archangels, and is a slayer of fiends.
Video Games[]
- Raziel from the Legacy of Kain series.
Uriel[]
Literature[]
- Uriel makes several appearances in The Dresden Files, helping out the protagonist, Harry Dresden, who nicknames him Mr Sunshine. Heavily implied to be the most dangerous archangel, and outright stated to be 'Heaven's spook' and he who killed the firstborn of Egypt. He also gives Harry a very nasty fright when he objects to being called 'Uri'. Justified in that Harry's nicknames in particular have power, and that part of his name is very important.
- The name of a planet visited in A Wrinkle in Time, Particularly the one where the children ride on the back of Mrs. Whatsit, who has transformed into a sort of winged centaur.
- In Dean Koontz's novel Hideaway, The Angel who it is strongly implied Was the source of Hatch Harrison's visions, and who speaks and acts through him as he kills Vassago, who we know had renamed himself after a Demon.
Fanfiction[]
- In Manchester Lost and Fanfic/Paradise Thwarted, he is one of the 4 archangels, and as in the above, possibly the strongest. However, he is also a complete Cloudcuckoolander and intersperses moments of pure Badass (he nearly rips Lucifer in half! And throws him all over the place) with hilarious moments e.g. hugging people, becoming a fluffy bunny magnet for 3 weeks and being utterly oblivious to Belial's attentions, Belial being Archdevil of Lust.
Live Action Television[]
- Uriel from Supernatural appears at first as just another dickish angel (Of which there are many) who just doesn't like the Winchesters. And then he tries to kickstart Armageddon.
Video Games[]
- Emperor Uriel Septim.
- One of the fighters from Quake III Arena is an ancient gargoyle type thing with this name.