Forty-eight names from mythology, and where they come from

Mythological names are unusual in that most parents choosing them know the story. That makes the table below more useful as a fact-check than as a shopping list: several of these names are attached to a figure quite different from the one people assume, and a few carry associations that have changed sharply in living memory.

Name	The figure	Tradition	Note
Freya	Freyja, goddess of love and war	Norse	The most popular girls' name in Scotland in 2025, with 268 babies
Thor	God of thunder	Norse	The root also gives Thursday and the name Torin
Loki	The trickster	Norse	Etymology genuinely unresolved
Idun	Keeper of the apples of youth	Norse	Also spelled Iduna and Idunn
Saga	A goddess associated with Odin	Norse	Common in Sweden; unrelated to the English word's modern sense
Runa	From rún, secret or rune	Norse	—
Balder	The god whose death begins the end	Norse	Meaning disputed — lord, or bold
Astrid	Divinely beautiful	Norse	A human name in the sagas rather than a divine one
Aurora	Goddess of the dawn	Roman	39th in England and Wales in 2025
Luna	Goddess of the moon	Roman	59th in England and Wales, and falling after a fast rise
Diana	Goddess of the hunt	Roman	Cognate with the Greek Artemis's role, not her name
Flora	Goddess of flowers and spring	Roman	94th in Scotland in 2025
Juno	Queen of the gods	Roman	Gives the month June
Maia	Goddess of growth	Roman and Greek	Also a separate Māori name, 33rd in New Zealand in 2025
Vesta	Goddess of the hearth	Roman	—
Marcus	From Mars, god of war	Roman	Mark is the same name
Silvanus	God of woods and fields	Roman	Silas is probably a short form
Penelope	Wife of Odysseus	Greek	Possibly from pēnē, thread; the derivation is uncertain
Phoebe	A Titan, and an epithet of Artemis	Greek	Bright, radiant; 14th in England and Wales
Chloe	An epithet of Demeter	Greek	Green shoot; 89th in England and Wales and falling in Scotland
Daphne	The nymph turned into a laurel	Greek	The word simply means laurel
Ariadne	Daughter of Minos	Greek	Most holy; Ariana is a Latinised descendant
Athena	Goddess of wisdom and war	Greek	90th in England and Wales, up 248 places in a decade
Selene	Goddess of the moon	Greek	The root of selenium
Calliope	Muse of epic poetry	Greek	Beautiful-voiced
Thalia	Muse of comedy	Greek	To flourish
Iris	Goddess of the rainbow	Greek	57th in England and Wales; the flower is named after her
Rhea	Mother of the Olympians	Greek	Meaning disputed
Cassandra	The prophet no one believed	Greek	The association is unhappy but the name is common
Jason	Leader of the Argonauts	Greek	Healer, from the same root as Iaso
Orion	The hunter, and the constellation	Greek	Even the Greek etymology is unresolved
Hector	Defender of Troy	Greek	Holding fast; long established in Scotland via Eachann
Atlas	The Titan holding up the sky	Greek	68th among boys in New Zealand in 2025
Perseus	Slayer of Medusa	Greek	Meaning uncertain
Leander	Lover of Hero	Greek	Lion-man
Castor	One of the Dioscuri	Greek	Beaver, literally
Maeve	Medb, queen of Connacht	Irish	26th in England and Wales, up 596 places in a decade
Niamh	Niamh of the Golden Hair	Irish	Brightness; she carries Oisín to Tír na nÓg
Fionn	Fionn mac Cumhaill	Irish	Sixth most popular boys' name in Ireland in 2025
Oisín	Fionn's son, the poet	Irish	Fifth in Ireland; Ossian and Osian are the same figure
Deirdre	The tragic heroine of the Ulster cycle	Irish	Meaning unknown
Bríd / Brigid	Goddess, and later the saint	Irish	Exalted one; the two identities are hard to separate
Rhiannon	The horsewoman of the Mabinogi	Welsh	Usually traced to Rigantona, great queen
Branwen	Sister of Brân the Blessed	Welsh	Blessed raven
Arianrhod	Mother of Lleu in the Mabinogi	Welsh	Silver wheel
Dylan	Dylan ail Don, a sea figure	Welsh	72nd across England and Wales; 36th in Wales alone
Isis	Egyptian goddess of magic and motherhood	Egyptian	Use collapsed in the US data after 2014 for reasons unconnected to the goddess
Maya	A concept and a goddess	Hindu	Illusion; a separate Hebrew and Greek name shares the sound
Arjun	Hero of the Mahabharata	Hindu	Bright, shining, white

What the data actually shows

Mythological names are not a niche

Freya is the most popular girls' name in Scotland. Athena is 90th in England and Wales and has climbed 248 places in ten years. Maeve is 26th after a decade-long rise of 596 places. Aurora, Luna, Iris, Phoebe, Penelope and Chloe are all inside the England and Wales top 100. A parent choosing a goddess's name in 2025 is following a mainstream fashion, not making an unusual choice.

The traditions behave differently

Norse and Greek names are rising; Roman ones are largely stable; Irish and Welsh mythological names are rising in their own countries and travelling slowly beyond them. Fionn is sixth in Ireland and 658th in England and Wales. Rhiannon is a familiar name in Wales and 1,407th across England and Wales as a whole.

Associations can change faster than names can

Isis is the clearest case in modern naming. It was a rising name in the United States until 2014, after which use collapsed for reasons that have nothing to do with the goddess or the etymology. It is worth remembering before choosing any name whose fame rests on a single association: the story is not under your control.

How to use this list

Read the whole story, not the epithet. Cassandra was disbelieved, Ariadne was abandoned, Medea was worse, and Persephone was abducted. None of that makes a name unusable — most people will never think about it — but if the myth is the reason you like the name, you should know how it ends.

Check whether the name is really from the tradition you think. Maia is Roman, Greek and Māori, and the three are unrelated. Maya is Hindu, Hebrew and Greek by three separate routes. Dylan is a Welsh sea figure and also, for most English speakers, a reference to a songwriter who took the name from a poet.

Finally, remember the practical test that applies to every list on this site: say the full name aloud with your surname, and check how the official registries rank the spelling you have chosen. Freya and Freyja, Maia and Maya, Oisín and Osian are all counted separately.

Baby Names From Mythology