Names To Run Away From / Ancient Dead Languages

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"Smilodon fatalis narrowly edged out Tyrannosaurus rex to win this year's Most Badass Latin Names competition, after edging out Dracorex hogwartsia and Stygimoloch spinifer (meaning 'horned dragon from the river of death') in the semifinals."

— xkcd, "Felidae"

A form of Names to Run Away from Really Fast.

If someone has a name that's Latin, or Sumerian, or Babylonian, this probably means they were around back then. A rule of thumb is usually the older something magical is, the more powerful. Expect Ominous Latin Chanting.

See also Names To Run Away From: Foreign Language Names, Names To Run Away From: Religious Names, and Names To Run Away From: Conquerors.

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Examples:

General

• Anyone/thing with "Bal-" (Baal, "Lord") in their name. "El" (Hebrew for "god") is the non-threatening version (Jor-El, Kal-El etc.) Except when they're not (Azrael and any angel from Shin Megami Tensei for example)
• Variants on "Cain" are a twofer, being both a really old name, and a notorious murderer; in fact, the person who invented murder.
• Any villain/weapon/organisation etc. called Cerberus; that has the added kick of an animal name (the three-headed dog which is said to guard the gateway to Hell to prevent anyone escaping). Strangely enough, nothing villainous ever seems to be named for the Greek original of this name, "Kerberos" ^note Likely because it means "spotted". Yes, the lord of the underworld named his dog Spot, and became the Ur-Example of "Spot" as a dog's name..

Comicbooks

• Apocalypse from the X-Men is also referred to as "En Sabah Nur". That's 30th century BC Egyptian for "Kick Your Ass." Or "Good Morning" or "The First One", depending on who is translating. In modern day Arabic it means “The seven lights”… Or "Uncle Nur from Sabah", in 21st century CE Malaysian.

Film

• Hannibal. Both that one and that one.
  • Bilingual Bonus applies: the name translates as "Baal is Grace".
• The Kurgan in Highlander
• Vermithrax Pejorative, "The Thracian wyrm that makes things worse", from Dragonslayer.
• What about Zuul, Vinz-Glortho, or Gozer the Gozarian? Albeit they are more like made up dead languages... but who cares when you are being told to choose the form of the Destructor?
• Fuad Ramses in Blood Feast.
• Elektra: The villain in The World Is Not Enough, and a film starring the Marvel heroine of the same name.
• In Jurassic World, the Big Bad is a dinosaur called Indominus Rex, literally "Fierce King" or "Untameable King". And unlike the dinosaurs in the first film, which were mostly just following their instincts, Indominus is actively malicious.
• In GoldenEye, the traitorous Alec Trevelyan assumes the codename Janus (the Two-Faced Roman God) after faking his death in Arkangelsk.

Literature

• Carcer is Latin for prison (the root of our incarcerate) and is also the name of the villainous murderer-cum-policeman in Terry Pratchett's Night Watch Discworld.
  • Another Discworld example is Bel-Shamharoth.
• The Big Bad of Kitty Norville, being a vampire from the time of ancient Rome, has a Latin name by which he is known: Dux Bellorum, 'leader/general of wars'. 'Nuff said.
• The name of Bellatrix Lestrange from Harry Potter means something akin to "Female Warrior Outsider".
  • Dolores Umbridge. Dolores=sorrows; umbrage=offence or annoyance.
  • Lucius, Narcissa, and Draco Malfoy. 'Lucius' is from the same root as 'Lucifer'; 'Narcissa' is the feminine of 'Narcissus', a beautiful, but poisonous flower, itself named for a vain mythological character, the root of 'narcissism'; 'Draco' means 'Dragon'; 'Malfoy' means 'Treachery', literally 'bad faith'. Considering that JK Rowling got her degree in Classical & Romance Languages, it is not surprising that many of her characters' names follow this trope.
• From The Dresden Files, we have Nicodemus Archleone. Two Biblical references with one name — and he's old enough to have met Jesus. He has the experience to show for it, too.
• From the same author, there's the Codex Alera series, which has every name derived from Latin. The absolute crowner, however, has to be Gaius Tavarus Magnus, which translates into Lord Wolverine The Great. He's not a bad guy, but he certainly earns it.
  • Also Invidia (Envy) Aquitane.
• Janos is an alternate spelling of Janus, the Roman god best known for being two-faced. It is also the name of the commander of the King's Landing city watch who betrays Ned Stark in A Game of Thrones.
• Borborygmus Gog in Galaxy of Fear. Borbogrygmus is the official term for stomach sounds; it comes from an ancient Greek word.
• In Dragon Bones Stygian, after the river Styx in the underworld of Classical Mythology. The horse of that name killed its first owner. The second owner renamed it "Pansy", and treated it much better, thus acquiring a Cool Horse.
• Neferet in House Of Night. Averted with Zenobia, who is a genuinely good person. Since vampires get to chose their own names, this trope is invoked by a trio who name themselves for the Graeae of Greek Myth: Deino, Enyo and Porphredo.

Live-Action TV

• Any vampire series; it's the ones with these names you really better watch out for. "Angelus" from Buffy the Vampire Slayer for example.
• Shows up in Stargate SG-1 a whole lot. When your Big Bad Always Chaotic Evil race's shtick is stealing the names of the gods from primitive Earth religions what else would you expect? e.g. Ba'al, Chronus, Sokar, Anubis, ect.
• In one episode of Doctor Who, The Master uses the alias Magister (Latin for "Master"). In another, Thascalos. (Greek for "Master").

Video Games

• Arcturus Mengsk. More intimidating for political reasons than physical.
  • Blizzard finally admitted that "Zera" means oblivion in Khalani. Admittedly a made up language, but do any Protoss heroes with that in their name come to mind? Zeratul!
• In Soulcalibur, Zasalamel's (an immortal) attacks are named after Babylonian gods, sets up the events of the 3rd game for his own benefit, and while heroic in the 4th, is still a jerk.
• The titular planet from Anachronox. "Poison of the past"
• Vanitas. Latin for emptiness. Amusingly enough, an alternate interpretation is "futility".
• Gilgamesh in Fate/stay night. Considering the fact that it revolves around a war between the summoned spirits of legendary heroes, it's not just a guy named Gilgamesh, it's the Gilgamesh.
  • Following from this, you have Ea. The single most powerful weapon in the entire world. It's perfectly capable of, on it's lowest setting, wiping the floor with Excalibur. It's stated that it could destroy the world if Gilgamesh ever wanted to.
• RuneScape has several, most of which are based on Latin, representing the fictional Infernal language, the official state language of Zaros' ancient empire. His chief general and creation is Nex, "murder." She has four ancient archmages bound to her service — Glacies, Umbra, Curor, and Fumus, whose names represent the magic at their disposal.
• The first major boss in Strider (Arcade) is Ouroboros (or Urobolos), a mechanical Segmented Serpent. Also the name of The Virus in Resident Evil 5. Both are Capcom games.
• Primagen ("first kind"?), the Big Bad of Turok 2: Seeds of Evil.
• Nemesis, the Greek goddess of retribution, is the name source for Resident Evil 3: Nemesis.
• Zelos, the Big Bad planet-eating Eldritch Abomination in Life Force, and Bacterian, the Big Bad of the main Gradius series.
• Talos, the bronze giant guardian of Crete. Resident Evil: The Umbrella Chronicles features a prototype cyborg Tyrant codenamed T.A.L.O.S.
• Anything named Chimera, such the Chimeras in Resident Evil, and the Chimera aliens in Resistance.
• Nitara (Sanskrit for "having deep roots") from the later Mortal Kombat games.
• Alma (Latin for "nurturing"):
  • One of the Greater Fiends in the Xbox remake of Ninja Gaiden, as well as being That One Boss.
  • The Stringy-Haired Ghost Girl mascot of the FEAR series.
  • Subverted with Alma Beouvle in Final Fantasy Tactics, who along with her brother is among the nicest people in the game. The person she's a reincarnation of, on the other hand...
• Legate Lanius (Latin for "butcher"), the Dragon-in-Chief and Final Boss of Fallout: New Vegas.
  • Ulysses from Lonesome Road takes his name from Ulysses Grant.
• The League of Legends champion Aatrox derives his name from the Latin atrox—the same word from which English words like "atrocious" and "atrocity" are derived. Aatrox is one of the Darkin, a quartet of demons who destroy everything in their wake.
• Most of the planets in The Adventures of Rad Gravity have Greek or Latin-sounding names, such as Sauria, Volcania, Utopia(nowhere), and Telos(end). The player's Robot Buddy and the purported Big Bad are named Kakos (evil) and Agathos (good or noble), respectively, subtly hinting at who's the real bad guy.
• Dishonored has the Pandyssian Continent, whose name is Greek for "all that is bad".
• The Elder Scrolls
  • Molag Bal, the Daedric Prince of domination, enslavement, and rape. Notable for having not only the "Bal" mentioned above, but also "Molag", referencing Moloch, a Canaanite god reported in the Bible to have demanded child sacrifice.
  • The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim provides an in-universe example with Dovazhul, the dragon language, which is largely forgotten aside from scholars and the Greybeards. It gives such examples as:
    • Alduin ("Destroyer Devour Master")
    • Durnehviir ("Curse Never Dying")
    • Nahagliiv ("Fury Burn Wither")
    • Odahviing ("Snow Hunter Wing")
    • Paarthurnax ("Ambition Overlord Cruelty")
    • Sahloknir ("Phantom Sky Hunt")
    • Vuljotnaak ("Dark Maw Eat")
    • Vulthuryol ("Dark Overlord Fire")
    • May of may not be averted by Dovahkin, depending on your actions.
• All but one of the end-of-chapter bosses in Live A Live are named in some way after "odio," Latin for "hatred." This ranges from a Tyrannosaurus Rex named Odo, to a wrestler named Odie O'Bright, to a computer program codenamed OD-10. Naturally, that's because they're all different forms of the Lord of Dark Odio, whom you face in the final chapter. And the reason one of the chapters doesn't end with fighting an Odio incarnation is because you're playing as the man who eventually becomes him.
• Child of Light has Umbra ("shadow"), Queen of the Night, and her daughters Nox ("night") and Crepusculum ("twilight").
• The Big Bad of Quake II and Quake IV is the Makron, whose name means "large" or "tall" in Greek.
• Kirby Mass Attack has a surprisingly edgy villain name for a Kirby game. Ready? Necrodeus. Latin for 'Death god'. And it fits, as a No-Nonsense Nemesis whose first action in the game is to split Kirby into ten and then kill all but one of them (and nearly getting all of them).
• In Rigid Force Alpha, the Slippy-Slidey Ice World planet is named Creeo, which sounds like the Greek word for "cold", and the Lethal Lava Land planet is named Aestus, which is derived from the Latin word for "heat".
• In Outriders, Lord Seth warns the protagonists about an extremely powerful and evil Altered named Moloch.

Western Animation

• Semi-exception: Optimus Prime and Ultra Magnus are ancient by human standards, but a few million years is pretty standard for a giant alien robot, and they're nice folks. But extremely badass nonetheless.
• The My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic episode "Do Princesses Dream of Magic Sheep" features the Tantabus, named after the Latin word for "nightmare", an amorphous Eldritch Abomination created by Princess Luna to punish herself for her deeds as Nightmare Moon, which increases in size and strength as it feeds on her guilt and spreads to other ponies' dreams, turning them into nightmares in the process.

Real Life

• Phytophthora, the genus of the pathogen which the British government took advantage of to produce the great famine in Ireland, is Greek for "plant destroyer", which is pretty much what the organism does.
• The genus name for belladonna AKA deadly nightshade, Atropa, means "inevitable", which is also the basis for Atropos, the last of The Fates.
• "Cancer" and "carcinoma" are derived from the Latin and Greek words for crab, respectively, due to tumors sometimes resembling crabs under the skin.
• Tyrannosaurus rex literally means "Tyrant Lizard King", which is a pretty apt description of a 9 ton, 40 foot long reptilian super predator with jaws that could warp steel.
  • It seems that palaeontologists have an unspoken rule that all dinosaurs in the Tyrannosauroid family need to have intimidating and badass Greco-Latin names. Honourable mentions include Moros ("Impending Doom"), Dynamoterror ("Powerful Terror"), Daspletosaurus ("Frightful Lizard"), Lythronax ("Gore King"), Nanotyrannus ("Small Tyrant"), Bistahieversor ("Bistahi Destroyer") and Teratophoneus ("Monster Murderer"). However, a recently discovered Tyrannosauroid from Canada might have the most intimidating name of them all: Thanatotheristes ("Death Reaper").

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