Bewitching Witch Names: Popular Willow to Vintage Hettie

Witch names come to mind every autumn, but they’re great any time of the year.

Fictional witches have worn so many fantastic names. Some, like Elphaba, fascinate – but seem like a stretch as a child’s given name.

This list focuses on witch names perfectly wearable for a real girl – black cat, bubbling cauldron, and magical powers not required.

Some of these are evil witch names, while others are good – or just plain netural. Whether that’s a dealbreaker is, as ever, up to you.

Read on for some of the most bewitching, best witch names ever worn.

BORROWED FROM BOOKS

ALEXANDRA, JANE, and SUKIE

The trio headlined John Updike’s 1984 novel The Witches of Eastwick.

ANTHA, DEBORAH, EMALETH, JEANNE LOUISE, MARIE CLAUDETTE, MARY BETH, STELLA, SUZANNE

Witch names from the Mayfair family, though Rowan is the star. Some are considered villains, and others are relatively minor characters. But they make for a fascinating family tree.

AGATHA, CLARICE, DRUSILLA, ETHEL, ENID, FENELLA, MAUD, SYBIL

Characters from The Worst Witch world, of which Mildred is the main character.

BELLATRIX

Though Helena Bonham Carter brought the character of Bellatrix LeStrange to life in the Harry Potter movies, the loyal servant of Voldemort’s name appeared in print long before. A night sky name with a great meaning – woman warrior – it might’ve caught on, if only she weren’t such a villain.

CIRCE

Libba Bray’s Gemma Doyle series introduces us to British boarding school, Spence Academy, in the year 1895. The students’ names are lovely antiques with an English air: Felicity, Pippa, Hester, Gemma. There’s also the villainous Circe, though she’s not a witch exactly. But Circe is a witch, from Greek mythology onward, as well as a minor goddess.

DIANA

Have you read A Discovery of Witches? Diana is a super-smart witch who has been trying very hard to deny that such things exist. Until she falls in love with a vampire. And embarks on a bunch of other adventures. The third book in the trilogy came out in 2014, and a television adaptation followed.

ESME and ESMERALDA

We usually think of Esme as the vampire matriarch of Twilight. But Terry Pratchett’s Discworld gives us a bewitching Esme, also known as Granny. Her full name? Esmeralda Weatherwax.

FLEUR, GINEVRA, LAVENDER, LILY, LUNA, MINERVA, MOLLY

There are whole posts filled with great names of witches from the Harry Potter world. These are just a few that come to mind. Another one with potential: Andromeda, though she’s known by her surname, Tonks, to her friends.

HERMIONE

The Harry Potter heroine has a great name – a stand-out Greek antique that clearly belongs on this list of witch names. Miss Granger inspired a list of names with similar qualities: Inspired by Hermione: Strong, Smart Girl Names.

JADIS

The Chronicles of Narnia calls her the White Witch, but her name is Jadis.

MILDRED

Hermione Granger’s polar opposite, Mildred is the bottom of the class at Miss Cackle’s Academy for Witches in The Worst Witch books. Despite her frequent misadventures and clumsiness with a spell or two, Mildred is brave, kind – and generally manages to save the day.

ROWAN

Queen of vampire literature Anne Rice also penned a highly successful series about a family of witches, stretching back generations. In The Witching Hour, Rowan Mayfair has grown up far away from her extended family in New Orleans, a brilliant surgeon who knows nothing about her family’s unusual past – or her destiny.

SERAFINA and SERAPHINA

Witch queen Serafina appeared in Philip Pullman’s The Golden Compass. The Fantastic Beasts series introduced us to another bewitching Seraphina, this time president of the Magical Congress of the United States during the 1920s.

TELEVISION WITCHES

ALEX

Her full name is Alexandra Margarita Russo, but Selena Gomez usually answered to the boyish Alex on Wizards of Waverly Place. The Disney Channel series prefers to call the Russos – male and female – wizards, but it still fits with witch names.

ANTONIA, MARNIE

Did you watch HBO’s True Blood? Season 4 took the mild-mannered Marnie, a practicing witch, and mixed her up with the spirit of a sixteenth century witch named Antonia. Powerful Antonia is seeking vengeance on all vampires. As a given name, Antonia ranks as a lovely, literary, and underused classic.

BELLADONNA

Also known as deadly nightshade, Belladonna is a gorgeous name with a dark meaning. It fits with famous witch names, though the best known character is somewhat obscure. The BBC’s children series The Herbs took place in an animated garden. It aired in the late 1960s; Parsley the Lion was the main character. Belladonna appears in the series only briefly.

BONNIE, DAVINA, LIV, SOPHIE

Strictly speaking, The Vampire Diaries – and spin-offs – focused on, well, vampires. But the long-running franchise introduced us to all sorts of supernatural creatures with some amazing names. These are just a few of the witches we’ve met.

CASSANDRA

The Hallmark Channel’s Good Witch introduced the world to Cassandra “Cassie’ Nightingale, who uses her powers for good. Highlander also gave the name to a character, the Witch of Donan Wood. And, of course, Greek myth gives us the original Cassandra, a Trojan princess with the gift of prophecy, cursed to be forever ignored.

CORDELIA, DELPHINE, FIONA, MADISON, MARIE, MISTY, MYRTLE, NAN, ZOE

American Horror Story: Coven took us from Salem, Massachusetts to New Orleans, Louisiana. It draws on both the Salem witch trials and the history of witchcraft and voodoo in New Orleans. (The Marie listed? That’s Marie Laveau.) The third season debuted back in 2013. Other installments of American Horror Story have included witches since, but  this list of female witch names is the longest in any season.

FREYA, INGRID, JOANNA, WENDY

Lifetime’s Witches of East End ended abruptly mid-cliffhanger. But the names of the Beauchamp family women definitely merit a place on this list – sisters Joanna and Wendy, and next generation witches Freya and Ingrid.

The writers chose names that were already steeped in legend, lore, and pop culture. Wendy the Good Little Witch was a companion to Casper the Friendly Ghost in comic books. And there’s a real-life medieval Swedish noblewoman, Ingrid Ylva, sometimes said to be a white witch. TV series Vikings also gives the name to a powerful woman who casts a spell or three.

HETTIE, MONA, CRESSIE

The Worst Witch inspired a television show that was so successful it lasted into the college years. Then along came The New Worst Witch, featuring Mildred’s cousin, Henrietta – called Hettie. Cresentmoon – Cressie for short – is one of the few character names that feels wildly over-the-top, but nickname Cressie might be wearable.

ISOBEL

Smallville’s girl next door Lana Lang grows up over the series’ run, and suffers some pretty unbelievable trials. During one of them, a seventeenth century French witch possesses her. The witch answers to Isobel.

MACY, MELANIE, MAGGIE, MARISOL

The 2018 edition of Charmed gave us three sisters with M names, inspired by the origin Halliwell three. Marisol was their mom.

MELISANDRE

Game of Thrones gave us a red priestess named Melisandre, also known as the Red Witch. Her name is lovely, but Melisandre’s actions are impossible to defend, befitting one of the most bloodthirty tv shows ever.

PHOEBE, PRUE, PIPER, PAIGE

The three Halliwell sisters from Charmed, plus half-sister Paige, battled mystical baddies and generally saved the world over eight eventful seasons.

ROWENA

Long-running series Supernatural saw the Winchester brothers confront all manner of villains. Powerful witch Rowena faced off against them in the tenth season. She appears in two more seasons of the show, too.

SABRINA, HILDA, ZELDA

A young Melissa Joan Hart played The Teenage Witch on television, though the character originated in the Archie comics. Her aunts, Hilda and Zelda, are witches, too, and raise Sabrina in most versions of the story. While most takes on Sabrina are light-hearted, a more recent comic and Netflix adaptation known as The Chilling Adventures of Sabrina took her story in a darker direction.

SAMANTHA

Back in the 1960s, Samantha masqueraded as an ordinary housewife, despite her status as a witch. The sitcom established the name as a go-to favorite.

TABITHA, CLARA, SERENA

Bewitched’s cast expanded by one when Samantha and Darrin welcomed daughter Tabitha – also a witch. Grandma Endora tricked the couple into choosing the name. Bewitched characters also included Clara and Serena.

WILLOW

Buffy the Vampire Slayer’s brainy BFF started out as a research assistant. As the series progressed, Willow learned witchcraft and joined the good fight in a whole other way.

ZELENA

ABC’s Once Upon a Time borrowed from fairy tales like Rumpelstiltskin and Snow White in the first few seasons, as we got to know the residents of Storybrooke. As the tv series developed,  many more fantasy worlds were introduced, from Peter Pan’s Neverland to King Arthur’s Camelot. Even the Wicked Witch of the West from the Oz stories made an appearance. OUAT named her Zelena.

BORROWED FROM MOVIES

BLAIR

The menace in The Blair Witch Project is named Elly, but Blair still fits on this list of witch names.

BONNIE, NANCY, SARAH, ROCHELLE

This quartet comes from 1996 high school movie/witch flick The Craft.

EGLANTINE

Eglantine comes from Bedknobs and Broomsticks, the enduring Disney flick from the 1960s. While the story comes from an earlier book, Angela Landsbury’s big screen performance makes the name unforgettable.

EVANORA

Originally a series of novels, L. Frank Baum’s witches answered to lots of lovely names. While Glinda reads very Wizard of Oz and Elphaba seems a little Wicked, Evanora stands out. The character first appeared in Oz the Great and Powerful. This Eva-Nora smoosh seems very in step with current trends.

GILLIAN, SALLY, FRANCES, BRIDGET (JET), KYLIE, ANTONIA

In 1998’s Practical Magic, a heartbroken witch cast a spell preventing her descendants from a happily ever after.

GWEN, MARNIE, SOPHIE, SAGE, SAPPHIRE, ANEESA, AGGIE

Back in 1998, Halloweentown debuted on the Disney Channel. The series gave us plenty of amazing witch names. Three sequels, and even more great names, followed.

JENNIFER

In 1942, Veronica Lake played Jennifer in I Married A Witch. Her character? A seventeenth century witch newly arrived in mid-twentieth century America. Jennifer skyrocketed in use in the years following the movie’s release.

LOUISE

In 1989’s Teen Witch, Louise celebrates her sixteenth birthday. The big surprise? She discovers that she possesses some serious magical powers.

MALEFICENT

This feels like the least wearable of the witch names. In Sleeping Beauty, she’s the dark fairy sorceress who curses Aurora to sleep for one hundred years as revenge against her parents. But then again, Maleficent’s side of the story was told in a pair of movies released in 2014 and 2019. A handful of girls have received the name since then.

MARY, SARAH, WINIFRED

The Sanderson sisters of Hocus Pocus wore these three names. While the movie wasn’t a big hit in 1993, it’s since become a cult classic.

URSULA

The sea witch from The Little Mermaid, Ursula is part-enchantress, part-octopus, and thoroughly terrifying.

WITCH NAMES EVERYWHERE

LAURIE

Here’s an interesting twist on witch names. Salem, Massachusetts lives in infamy, thanks to the Salem Witch Trials. In 1692, a wave of mass hysteria gripped the community. Ultimately, 19 individuals lost their lives, and more perished in prison. It’s a dark moment, but today Salem has embraced its past and Halloween is the time to visit. Laurie Cabot wasn’t a seventeenth century victim of the Trials; instead, she’s the “Official Witch of Salem,” teaching her craft to others and serving as a volunteer and ambassador for the community. It’s not quite enough to make Laurie seem like a particularly witchy name, but this list seemed incomplete without her.

MORGAN

A witch name taken straight from Arthurian legend. Morgan Le Fay’s character has changed quite a bit over the centuries, but no questions she’s among the most famous witches to grace this list.

WENDY

The friendly witch, friend of equally un-threatening ghost Casper, came out of the comic strip.

Would you consider any of these witch names for a daughter? Are there other names that should be on this list?

This post was published on October 18, 2013. It was revised and republished on October 28, 2016; October 2, 2021; September 30, 2023; and August 31, 2024.