How to name your villain

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Darth Vader. Lord Voldemort. Maleficent. Hannibal Lecter. They pretty much have evil stamped on them from their name alone. Then there are the ones that creep up on you – Mr Hyde doesn’t sound to bad. Neither does Tom Ripley. Mrs Coulter from His Dark Materials trilogy gives nothing away by her name.

So how do you name a villain? Call them as they are or hold back a little? It depends mostly on their entrance into your story. Sometimes by painting a villain as pure evil from the get go can give them a strength makes the job of your hero seem harder. Giving your villain a more complex back story on top of this can make a turning point even more powerful if you have lead your audience to believe they are irredeemable – just think; ‘Luke, I am your father.’

But bear in mind that the ‘pure evil’ name usually exists because the villain themselves has chosen it, a moniker to demonstrate their allegiance to the dark side. Tom Riddle renamed himself Lord Voldemort, Darth Vader was once Anakin Skywalker.

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So here are some lists to spark an idea for your next baddie – may the force be with you!

SOME SYNONYMS FOR ALL THINGS BAD AND VILLAINOUS:

  • nefarious

  • malevolent

  • pernicious

  • wanton

  • obstreperous

  • fiendish

  • wayward

  • recalcitrant

  • bawdy

  • ghastly

  • harrowing

  • beastly

  • odious

  • brute

  • libertine

  • rapscallion

SOME NAMES OF DEMONS (ACROSS DIFFERENT CULTURES):

  • Abraxas

  • Alastor

  • Barbatos

  • Beelzebub

  • Behemoth

  • Charun

  • Drekavac

  • Focalor

  • Jikininki

  • Kasadya

  • Lempo

  • Mephistopheles

  • Murmur

  • Orcus

  • Pazuzu

  • Ravan

  • Sabnock

  • Succubus

  • Valac

  • Vepar

  • Wendigo

  • Xezbeth

  • Ziminiar

SOME ANIMALS FREQUENTLY ASSOCIATED WITH EVIL:

  • dragon

  • wolf

  • snake

  • spider

  • raven

  • crow

  • jackal

  • cat

  • bat

  • hyena

  • vulture

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Black and white are colours associated with evil; here are some names that reference these colours.

NAMES MEANING ‘BLACK’:

  • Ciaran

  • Adham

  • Cole

  • Dargan

  • Doyle

  • Jet

  • Raven

  • Brenna

  • Ciara

  • Ebony

  • Jetta

  • Kali

  • Odile

NAMES MEANING ‘WHITE’:

  • Alba

  • Bianca

  • Branwen

  • Ceinwen

  • Casiphia

  • Elva

  • Fenella

  • Finola

  • Galatea

  • Gwyneth

  • Ivory

  • Lewana

  • Morwenna

  • Nuala

  • Olwen

  • Albion

  • Blake

  • Elwyn

  • Fingal

  • Gavin

  • Morgan

  • Wycombe

I’m off to find a home for Cole Beastly and Harrow Wolfbane. I hope you’ve found a villain too!

WritingCaitlin ZieglerVillain, creative writing, inspiration, Fiction