Looking for a unique baby name with a touch of darkness?
Gothic baby names might just be the answer.
Inspired by horror, nature, romance, and myth, goth culture has inspired many baby names that are maybe a little creepy, but really interesting and elegant, too.
What more could you want?
We’ve searched through the darkest forests and descended to the depths of the underworld to bring you the best gothic names out there.
So let’s explore the darkest of baby names.
We hope you find something that’s just right.
Read on… if you dare…
[insert spooky laughter]
In this article: 📝
- What are some names whose meaning is dark?
- What are some ominous names?
- Gothic girl names
- Gothic boy names
- Unisex gothic names
What are some names whose meaning is dark?
Let’s start with some names that means ‘dark’ for your little Prince or Princess of Darkness.
Here are 13 names for all genders inspired by darkness and shadows:
- Adrienne: Meaning “the dark one” (or “the one from Hadria”).
- Dusk: Meaning “sunset”.
- Gray or Grey: Not a color, but a shade.
- Keir: Meaning “dark-haired” or “dark-skinned”.
- Lamya: Meaning “dark complexion”.
- Layla: An Arabic girl’s name meaning “dark” or “night”.
- Amaya: Meaning “night rain”. A Japanese baby name.
- Midnight: You know this one.
- Noir: French for “black”.
- Onyx: Meaning “a shiny black gem”.
- Ozul: A Hebrew name meaning “shadow”.
- Shadow: Meaning “where the sun doesn’t reach”.
- Umbra or Ombra: This Latin name means “shade” or “darkness”.
What are some ominous names?
And now for something a little creepier.
Here are 25 creepy Gothic names for the true goths out there.
We’ve separated them into gothic female names and male names, but if something feels right, you go for it, whichever the gender.
Creepy goth female names
Creepy names may not seem the most appealing of categories for a fresh-faced babe—until a certain Wednesday Addams came on the scene.
Smart, strong-willed, and unafraid of the macabre, the deadpan character is a muse we can get behind—and do with these dark female names:
- Arachne: Straight from the pages of ancient Greek mythology, Arachne was a weaver who was transformed into a spider after challenging the Goddess Athena.
- Gehenna: Meaning “the valley of Hinnom”—a place in the Bible where the wicked go to suffer. Creepy indeed.
- Gossamer: Meaning “fine silky thread”, like a film of cobwebs.
- Hecate: – A Greek goddess associated with witchcraft and the underworld.
- Inclementia: From the Latin meaning “cruelty”.
- Kalma: As in the Finnish god of death and decay.
- Kali: The Hindu goddess of doomsday and death.
- Lilith: Meaning “night monster”. Lilith is a demon in Jewish mythology and an undoubtedly edgy girl’s name.
- Naenia: Meaning “incantation”. A reference to the Roman goddess of funerals.
- Perdita: A Latin girl’s name meaning “lost”.
- Dolores: Though sweet to the eyes and ears, Dolores actually means “sorrows”.
- Solanine: A type of poison found in nightshade.
- Tristezza: An Italian word meaning “sadness” or “melancholy”. A perfectly gothic baby girl name.
Creepy goth male names
Who doesn’t love an anti-hero?
Or a charming rogue or misfit?
Pop culture is filled with alluring gothic male characters—Eric Draven, Lestat de Lioncourt, Edward Scissorhands.
Here are our favorite Gothic baby names unafraid to delve into the darkness:
- Astaroth: Known to be the Grand Duke of hell.
- Azrael: The Islamic angel of death.
- Belial: A Hebrew name for the devil.
- Chaos: Total disorder, or the Greek idea of total emptiness.
- Draven: Meaning “of the raven”.
- Hades: The Greek god of the dead and king of the underworld.
- Hannibal: The ancient general who led his army of elephants across the Alps and one of Hollywood’s most iconic horror villains. A truly badass boy name that means “grace of Baal”.
- Hemlock: A type of poison that famously killed Socrates.
- Dade: Meaning “dark one”.
- Moloch: An ancient pagan god and a unique gothic baby boy name.
- Morte: The French word for “death”.
- Burton: Meaning “fortified settlement”. In honor of the beloved Gothic film director Tim Burton.
Gothic girl names
Looking for more gothic names for children?
There’s no shortage of dark, broody material for truly dark female names.
Victorian literature, ancient mythology, and Biblical texts are all prime places for sourcing some of the darkest muses.
To save you time (or get you started), here are some of the best gothic names for girls:
- Amaris: A Hebrew girl’s name meaning “promised by God”.
- Amethyst: A type of violet gemstone.
- Anastasia: A famous Russian girl’s name meaning “resurrection”.
- Aurora: Meaning “dawn”.
- Autumn: A solid fall baby name marking the season when summer turns to winter. A name that’s both beautiful and dark.
- Belinda: Meaning both “beautiful” and “bright serpent”.
- Badriyah: From the Arabic, meaning “full moon”.
- Bellatrix: Meaning “female warrior”, it’s one of the darker Harry Potter girl names.
- Bernia: Meaning “the angel in armor”.
- Branwen: A Welsh name meaning “blessed raven”.
- Calliope: Meaning “beautiful-voiced”. The Greek muse of poetry.
- Chandra: The Hindi word for “moon”.
- Calista: Meaning “most beautiful”, from ancient Greek.
- Circe: An ancient Greek sorceress.
- Crimson: A deep red purple—the color of blood.
- Danika: A Slavic name meaning “morning star”.
- Draconia: A female Gothic name from the male Draco. A classic dragon baby name.
- Drusilla: A dark-sounding name that means “fruitful”.
- Diamanda: Meaning “of high value” or “brilliant”.
- Dionisia: Meaning “follower of Dionysus”—the Greek god of intoxication.
- Elvira: Meaning “truth”. Also, the name of the legendary Mistress of the Dark.
- Edana: A Gaelic name meaning “fire”.
- Ethelinda: Meaning “noble serpent”.
- Eris: The Greek goddess of strife and discord.
- **Feronia: The Roman goddess of wildlife and abundance.
- Guinevere: The queen from Arthurian legend, her name means “fair one”.
- Garnet: A deep red precious stone.
- Gwendoline: Meaning “white ring”.
- Hestia: The Greek goddess of the home.
- Hesperia: Meaning “evening star”.
- Ianira: A Greek sea nymph and enchantress.
- Jinx: Meaning “spell” or “charm”.
- Juliet: From Shakespeare’s famous tragedy. Her name means “youthful”.
- Jocasta: Meaning “shining moon”. A character from Greek myth.
- Jezebel: The wicked queen of Israel condemned by God. Ironically her name means “pure”.
- Kairos: A Greek name meaning “opportune moment”—to strike perhaps?
- Kalonice: Meaning “victory of beauty”.
- Lethia: Meaning “forgetful”.
- Luna: The Roman goddess of the moon.
- Mara: Meaning “bitter”. In Nordic folklore, she is responsible for bringing nightmares to animals and people during the night.
- Magenta: An intense pink color.
- Minerva: The Roman goddess of wisdom and war.
- Morrigan: An Irish name meaning “great queen”.
- Morticia: Meaning “mortician”. The black-clad stylish icon from The Addams Family. Black is such a happy color.
- Morwenna: Meaning “maiden”.
- Narcissa: Meaning “daffodil” or someone in love with their own beauty.
- Nesta: Meaning pure. Welsh in origin.
- Nyx: Meaning “night”.
- Ophelia: Meaning “help”. Shakespeare’s tragic character in Hamlet.
- Philomena: Meaning “field of strength”.
- Renata: Meaning “reborn” in Latin.
- Rose: From the beautiful but prickly plant.
- Rue: Meaning “to regret”.
- Sabrina: A river goddess and a teenage witch, but above all a “legendary princess”.
- Semyazza: A fallen Christian angel.
- Scarlett: From the color scarlet.
- Eulalie: Meaning “sweetly-spoken”. The subject of intense desire and love in Edgar Allan Poe’s poem of the same name.
- Thora: The female equivalent of the Norwegian god Thor.
- Titania: Shakespeare’s fairy queen.
- Ursula: Meaning “little she-bear”.
- Velika: A Slavic name meaning “great” or “wondrous”.
- Vesper or Vespera: Meaning “evening star”.
- Valentina: Meaning “healthy” or “strong”.
- Willow: Meaning “willow tree”—the perfect place for brooding.
- Wren: A type of bird.
- Wednesday: A day of the week and the iconic character from The Addams Family.
- Xenobia: Meaning “of Zeus”. A Syrian queen who conquered Egypt.
- Xylia: Meaning “woodland dweller”.
Gothic boy names
Who can resist a dark and moody leading man?
They haunt the pages of classic literature and have even transcended fictional realms to capture imaginations through the big screen.
Vampires, broody heroes, and mysterious entities—our dark pool of goth boy names has them all:
- Astrophel: Meaning “star lover”.
- Balor: Meaning “the deadly one”—an Irish boy’s name.
- Brendan: Meaning “prince” in Irish.
- Brander: An Old English name meaning “sword” or “fiery torch”.
- Cadell: A Welsh boy’s name meaning “battle”.
- Cadogan: Meaning “battle glory”.
- Cain or Kane: Meaning “acquired” or “spearer”. The murderous son of Adam and Eve.
- Corbin: Meaning “little crow”.
- Caedmon: Meaning “battle”. An Anglo-Saxon poet.
- Damian or Damien: Meaning “to tame” or “subdue”. The devilish character from The Omen and bad-boy vampire from The Vampire Diaries. A favorite gothic boy name.
- Dorian: The character from Oscar Wilde’s The Picture of Dorian Grey.
- Dante: Meaning “enduring” or “everlasting”. The medieval poet.
- Edgar: From perhaps the most famous Gothic writer, Edgar Allan Poe. His name means “wealthy spear”.
- Eoghan: Meaning “born of yew”.
- Elwin: Meaning “elf” or “magical being”, from Old English.
- Eldritch: Meaning “old’.
- Frey: The Norse god of fertility and prosperity.
- Gawain: Meaning “little falcon”. A medieval English knight.
- Grimbald: A medieval monk.
- Gabriel: Meaning “God is my strength”. From the Christian archangel.
- Hunter: A great gothic baby name for boys.
- Ingram: Meaning “raven of peace”.
- Israfel: Meaning “burning one”—the angel of music who blows the horn that signals Judgment Day.
- Jael: Meaning “wild mountain goat”.
- Jairus: Meaning “God enlightens”.
- Jarlath: Meaning “leader” or “prince”.
- Jasper: A reddish precious stone.
- Kazimir: From the Slavic, meaning “famous destroyer of peace”.
- Lazarus: Meaning “God has helped”. The character in the Bible who famously returns from the dead.
- Lucien: Meaning “light”.
- Lucius: An alternative to Lucien, but infused with Harry Potter vibes.
- Lycidas: Meaning “wolf-son”.
- Malachi: Meaning “my messenger”.
- Martel: Meaning “forceful person” or “hammer”.
- Natrix: Meaning “water snake”.
- Niall: Meaning “champion”.
- Oberon: A fairy king, from Shakespeare’s play A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
- Orpheus: Meaning “beautiful voice”. The legendary musician from ancient Greek myth.
- Osiris: The Egyptian god of the dead.
- Orion: Meaning “rising in the dawn” or “great hunter”. The name of a constellation.
- Perseus: Meaning “destroyer”.
- Phelan: Meaning “like a wolf”.
- Payne: Meaning “countryman”, but with a dark gothic sound that might be perfect.
- Ransley: Meaning “raven meadow”.
- Riordan: Meaning “royal bard”.
- Salem: Meaning “peace”. Also the historic town famous for its witch trials.
- Serpent: An alternative word for a snake.
- Samael: Meaning “God has heard”. The Jewish angel of death.
- Tartarus: The darkest part of the underworld.
- Tristan: Meaning “sad” or “sorrowful”.
- Ulfred: Meaning “wolf of peace”.
- Valentine: Meaning “healthy” or “strong”. A name associated with love and romance, for obvious reasons.
- Valerian: Meaning “healthy and strong”.
- Wolf: As in the wild animal.
- Waldron: Meaning “mighty raven”.
- Zane: Meaning “God is gracious”.
Unisex gothic names
And, finally, some gothic names that work beautifully for all genders.
Here are the best gender-neutral names with dark meanings unafraid to challenge the status quo:
- Briar: Meaning “thorny bush of wild roses”.
- Blackwell: Meaning “someone who lives by a dark pool”. Atmospheric.
- Blade: Meaning “knife” or “sword”. A nod to the hybrid vampire hunter, perhaps?
- Blair: Meaning “battlefield”.
- Blaise: Meaning “lisp” or “stammer”. A disarming gothic name.
- Crow: Suited best to a dark-haired babe.
- Elysium: Meaning “home of the blessed after death”.
- Griffin: Meaning “lord”.
- Grendel: Meaning “shadow walker”.
- Jett: Meaning “jet black”.
- Lennon: Meaning “lover”.
- Obsidian: A type of volcanic glass.
- Phoenix: Meaning “dark red”.
- Poe: A Norse name meaning “peacock”.
- Rain: Meaning “abundant blessing from above” or, you know, “rain”.
- Raven: An iconic gothic symbol.
- Requiem: Meaning “rest” or “repose”.
- Rhapsody: Meaning “an ecstatic expression of feeling”.
- Rogue: Meaning “unpredictable” or “mischievous”.
- Saber: Meaning “sword”.
- Stone: For an impenetrable facade”.
- Storm: Meaning “tempest”.
- Thorn: Meaning “thorn bush”.
- Winter: A name that captures the cozy darkness of winter months.
- Whisper: Meaning “soft voice”.
- Zephyr: Meaning “west wind”.
And so ends our list of gothic baby names.
Did you find something shadowy enough?
A name that boasts beauty and elegance with a sinister touch?
If you’re still in search of a name that would make Edgar Allan Poe proud, make sure to check out our dedicated list of mysterious names that mean dark.
And you’ll find plenty of inspo for your October babe with these 170 spooky Halloween names.