My favourite Goddess inspired witch names

 A while ago I wrote a list of my favourite Witchy names and it has been great to have people adding to that list with their comments!  When I wrote that list I focused on my idea of the old-fashioned stereotyped witch of literature and fiction.   The old mother witch with the home remedies and midwifery skills named Maud or Esme.  I think those names have a place for naming children these days as parents look to their ancestry to find the perfect name for their child.

Forest Fairytale, artist Anelia Pavlova

But what of those people who would look to name themselves as a witch.  I know that many of the readers of this blog are practicers of the Craft and are looking to find a personal witch name to represent a transformation in themselves.  Often these names are private names shared only with with a select few or kept completely secret; some witches believe that names have and give power. 

This sense of the power of the name is something that I think we all believe in part.  When we choose names for our children we often try to achieve something. Perhaps it might be a sense of normality or a sense of difference; a connection to the traditional or just the fashionable.  There is a message in a name. It is part of what I find fascinating about them.

If people are coming to this blog searching for a name that connects them to the divine, perhaps I can help.  I thought about where we might find a pool of power names that might appeal to people searching for name inspiration, and I turned first to mythology.  As someone who has the proud benefit of holding the goddess name Tara from birth, I thought that perhaps the mystical nature of goddesses might connect on a deeper level with someone who is 'asking the universe' for their name.  Some of the more fascinating of the goddesses of mythology and history are listed below for inspiration.  Additional information about each name and many more goddesses can be found at this fascinating site Goddess.com.au.

• Amaterasu - the Japanese Sun goddess
• Astarte - the Babylonian warrior queen of heaven
• Bast - the Egyptian goddess of the sun
• Bodicea - the Celtic queen
• Brigid - the Celtic goddess of light
• Circe - the Greek goddess of the moon
• Diana - the Roman goddess of the hunt
• Freja - the Nordic goddess of passion
• Gaia - the earth mother
• Hestia - the Greek goddess of purity
• Inanna - the Sumerian goddess of the dark moon
• Juno - the Roman goddess of the home and partnership
• Lilith - the Hebrew goddess of freedom
• Maia - the Greek goddess of Spring
• Nuit - the Egyptian goddess of connectivity
• Rhiannon - the Welsh goddess of fertility
• Tara - the Tibetan goddess of love
• Venus - the Roman goddess of the heart
• Yemaya - the West African goddess of the oceans.

A powerful list of names, I hope they are inspiring.

Comments

[skye]

My favourite goddess name is Artemis, but since those silly YA books came out with a boy character called Artemis Fowl I can't really use that one (it used to be my favourite girls name of all, along with Horatio for a boy - luckily I had not children at that time!)

[Alicia]

Juno has always been a favorite. But, I think nowadays people would assume it was after the movie/character.
My favorite goddess names are:
Aine-Celtic
Cessair (Kesara)- Celtic
Artemis- Greek
Athena - Greek
Leda - Greek
Penelope - Greek
Persephone - Greek
Aurora - Roman
Luna - Roman
Minerva - Roman
Isis- Egyptian

[Tara]

Good list Alicia! Luna and Aurora are personal faves. Yeah I agreed Sky, Artemis has kinds been ruined by Artemis Fowl, but I have always prefered the Roman form of the goddess of the hunt -- Diana. Actually Laura was nearly called Diana, but then I realised that India and Diana are practically the same letters rearranged!

Tara