Names to Run Away From Really Fast/Biblical Names

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


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. For information on why these names are notorious, see Biblical Bad Guy.

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

Video Games

  • There is also a Pokémon named Absol, which is considered a bad omen due to its attraction to catastrophe.


Adam

The First Man in the Book of Genesis , his name is often used for apocalyptic villains (to represent the loss of Paradise) or whenever an unsavory scientist tries to create life. Of course, Adam is a very popular name, even in Real Life, and there are plenty of good guys with that name.

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.
  • Eve is the Big Bad of the manga version of Yu-Gi-Oh! ARC-V; "Adam" is the name of the Bigger Bad, who was killed in the utopian future Eve is from; her goal is to restore him.

Literature

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.

Film

Tabletop Games

Video Games

Western Animation

  • Adam is the leader of the Exorcists in Hazbin Hotel; he may, in fact, be the Adam, but that has not been officially confirmed.

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

Video Games

Real Life


Delilah

The notorious seductress who betrayed Samson in the Book of Judges. While Samson's name suggests a violent killer, Delilah's tends to suggest a sinister temptress. Despite (or perhaps because of) this, most uses of this name in modern day works are subversions.

Anime and Manga

  • Delilah from GATE is not the type of bunny-girl you want to mess with.

Comic Books

  • Spider-Man villain the Rose (Jacob Conover) employed a cybernetic female enforcer named Delilah, both as a bodyguard and an assassin. Unlike her namesake, she seemed to have Undying Loyalty towards him.

Western Animation

  • In the second season of Gargoyles, Thailog makes a fused clone of Demona and Elisa Maza and names her Delilah.

Jezebel

"And the dogs shall eat Jezebel in the portion of Jezreel, and there shall be none to bury her."

— The LORD, 1 Kings 21:23

The cruel and heretical wife of King Ahab from the Book of Kings. Long used to evoke images of false prophets (thanks to Jezebel's support for pagan deities over Yahweh) and prostitutes.

Anime and Manga

  • Not a straight example, but in Pokémon, James' cruel and sadistic ex-fiancé is named Jesse Bell, a clear pun on the infamous name.

Live-Action TV

Newspaper Comics

  • Played for laughs in Peanuts, during a storyline when Linus meets a female classmate who constantly changes her name from day to day.

Classmate: Today my name is Jezebel.
Linus: Jezebel was the evil wife of King Ahab in the Old Testament. In II Kings, it says that her servants threw her out of the window and she landed on her head.
Classmate: ...Today my name is Susan.

Gog and/or Magog

Comic Books

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

Video Games

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.

Comic Books

  • In most versions of Batman, the Lazarus Pit is a well of liquid that the villain Ra's al Ghul has used to cheat death for centuries, but usually, it has rather unpleasant side effects attached.

Film

Live-Action TV

  • Doctor Who has 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.[context?]
  • The Diablo series has 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 & 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 Turok series.

Web Comics

  • Schlock Mercenary has U.N.S. "project Laz'R'Us", initially run by one Doctor Todd Lazkowicz. Who subsequently ran away, joined a mercenary company and before being captured was killed by a stray bullet to the head and had Burial in Space in a torpedo coffin. Leaving behind only a terribly illegal piece of medical equipment with top secret augmentation blueprints and AI built from his upload. "Coincidentally", the project was all about backing up and restoring the subject's brain using nanobots. And presumably nobody tracked a standard coffinpedo very far.

Western Animation

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

Video Games

  • A boss in the Mortal Kombat series.
  • Mortimer and Randolph Moloch, twins in the Stormwind Stockade.

"Allow me to introduce myself. I am Randolph Moloch, and I will be killing you all today."

Web Comics

  • Girl Genius has Moloch von Zinzer -- really sounds like a name to run away from, but he's dangerous almost exclusively when trying to save his hide. Eventually, the reason is revealed.

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

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.
    • The Whoniverse has another Nimrod - an Ax Crazy undead government agent hell-bent on world domination by Britain, and complete control of Britain by his organization, the Forge, which should be itself put around here given its Orwellian type of evil and willingness to abuse alien tech.
  • In the two-part episode, "White Light" of Mighty Morphin Power Rangers Season 2, Lord Zedd creates a monster literally named Nimrod the Scarlet Sentinel. In fact, she was the first Monster of the Week that Tommy fought as the White Ranger, and clearly, this Trope does apply, as she was very powerful, managing to nearly flatten the Thunder Megazord in the first part of the two-parter, right before Tommy appeared in his new identity. (Of course a big part of that was because Zordon was, at the time, diverting most of the Command Center's energy to Tommy in order to give him his new powers, leaving the Megzord at subpar levels.) She had powerful electrical attacks and could summon two other monsters (her "assistants") named AC and DC to help her.

Tabletop Games

Samson

The guy who killed an entire army with the jawbone of an ass. Hero or villain, whoever has this name will likely be strong.

Comic Books

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.

Comic Books

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

Video Games

Web Comics

Western Animation

"I'm gonna name you Jesus...Ezekiel...Jesus. And that's from the Bible."

Back to, not away from, Names to Run Away From Really Fast
  1. ↑ Elmer Fudd, of course, being an utterly incompetent hunter, the exact opposite of Nimrod's reputation among the Bible's authors.
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