Ashildr

In Doctor Who, Ashildr, daughter of Einarr, was a young woman who lived in a Viking village on Earth in the 9th century. Her village was visited by an aliens called the Mire who posed as the Norse god Odin, in a plot to harvest the strongest warriors. Ashildr had a vivid imagination, perfect for Mire hologram technology, which the Doctor used to dupe the Mire into surrendering. Unfortunately Ashildr was killed in the process. The Doctor then used Mire technology to bring her back to life, but it also made her immortal. Ashildr kept detailed diaries of her life because she had trouble remembering much of her past, including her name. She eventually began referring to herself as 'Me', and in the 18th century, 'Lady Me'. Later, Ashildr traveled with Clara in a second TARDIS stolen from Gallifrey. She was the last living being at the end of the universe.

Ashildr is a variant of the Norse name Åshild, which means 'god battle'. The name Hildr comes from a valkyrie, one of Odin's handmaidens, who chose who would survive a battle, much as the Doctor did by saving Ashildr. Ashildr does not appear in the Social Security Administration's name database.

Leela

In Futurama, Turanga Leela was the captain of the Planet Express space ship. She grew up an orphan, believing herself the sole survivor of an alien race, but in fact, she was a mutant. She worked at Applied Cryogenics as a Fate Assignment Officer but gave it up to work at Planet Express. She has had relationships with Zapp Brannigan and Fry. She had a pet alien named Nibbler.

In Doctor Who, Leela was a companion of the Fourth Doctor. She was a warrior from the Sevateem. She fell in love with another time lord named Andred. Leela left the Doctor to marry Andred and live on Gallifrey.

Leela is a variant of Leila, which means 'night beauty.' In 2014, 217 girls were named Leela in the U.S.

Ulysses

In Avengers: Age of Ultron, Ulysses Klaue was a smuggler who sold a large amount of Vibranium to Ultron.

In D.C. Comics, Ulysses was the alias for Neil Quinn, who had the ability to absorb and transfer various forms of energy.

In Marvel Comics, Ulysses Bloodstone was an immortal human born 10,000 years ago in Scandanavia. He became immortal when the bloodstone shattered, and a piece of it became imbedded in his chest.

In the Doctor Who novel, The Gallifrey Chronicles, Ulysses was a time lord who married a human named Penelope Gate, an human from the 19th century.

In the Syfy series, Defiance, Ulysses was a bioman who lived in Defiance and worked for Datak Tarr. Nolan defeated him in a fight by deactivating his switch.

In Babylon 5, the Ulysses was a merchant vessel. In a Battlestar Galactica comic book, the Ulysses was a battlestar that along with Galactica attacked Trinity Base. In Star Trek, the U.S.S. Ulysses was a Federation starship.

In a Stargate SG-1 comic series, Fall of Rome,  Ulysses was a Goa'uld who was in a Unas host. He had lived on Earth in Ancient Greece.

In World of Warcraft, Ulysses Rackmore was the captain of the ship Gallant.

The Ulysses of Greek myth made an appearance in the television show Xena: Warrior Princess. Xena and Gabrielle helped him break a curse placed upon him by Posiedon.

Ulysses is the Latin form of the Greek name Odysseus, who was a hero from myth. Ulysses last appeared in the top 1,000 names in 2005, when it was #983. In 2014, 171 boys were named Ulysses in the U.S.

Quill

In the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Peter Jason Quill, aka Starlord, was abducted from Earth as a child. He became an outlaw, but later redeemed himself by stopping Ronan the Accuser from destroying Xandar with an infinity stone. In the process, he joined a group of misfits called the Guardians of the Galaxy. In the Marvel comics, Peter was an orphan who became an astronaut. He was given the title Starlord by an alien called the Master of the Sun.   

In X-Men, Quill was a mutant that attended Xavier Institute. He had porcupine quills on his head instead of hair, and he could fire them as projectiles. He was mentored by Gambit and wanted to become a thief. He was killed when William Stryker attacked the school.

In Doctor Who, Mr. Quill was a minor character who was an engineer at a off shore gas rig.

In the Transformers franchise, the Quill was an artifact that had the ability to change the future itself.

Quill was an experimental satellite program in the 1960s to test radar imaging from space.

The Quill was a 1983 computer program that one could use to write computer games. QUILL is also short for Quintiq Logic Language, a Dutch programming language.

Quill is an English word that refers to the hollow shaft of a feather, or a pen made from one. In 2014, 5 boys were given the name Quill. 

If you're looking for a name that reflects a love of the written language, Quill is a great choice.

Maximus

In Star Trek, Flavius Maximus was an alien from the planet 892-IV, which bore a striking resemblance to Ancient Rome. He was a gladiator who rejected the Roman way of life to follow the Children of the Son. He was recaptured and forced to fight in an area battle, and died trying to prevent the execution of Captain James T Kirk.

Maximus was a dragon in the Temeraire series of novels by Naomi Novik. He was a Regal Copper, and was large even for that breed. He was in the same formation as Temeraire.

In Doctor Who, Maximus Pettulian was a lyre player from Corinth that plotted to kill Emperor Nero. He was assassinated before he could carry out the act. The First Doctor later discovered the dead Maximus. The Doctor took his lyre, and assumed his identity while in Rome.

In the Marvel universe, Maximus was a schizophrenic genius and an Inhuman.

Fortress Maximus was the name of several characters in the Transformers universe.

In Caprica, Maximus was a judge who was bribed to prevent Joseph Adama's clients from going to prison.

In the J.K. Rowling book, Quidditch Through the Ages, Maximus Brankovitch III was a seeker for the Fitchburg Finches, an American Quiddich team from Massachusetts.

In the Star Wars universe, the Maximus was a star cruiser that appeared in several novels.

Maximus is used in taxonomy in the Latin binomial abbreviations for many different species.

Maximus is Latin for "the greatest". Maximus first appeared in the top 1,000 names in the United States in 2000. In 2014, it ranked at #192.

August 2013 Roundup

British Baby Names profiled Archer, known to geeks as the surname of the first Captain of the Enterprise, and Malcolm, the tactical officer that served under him.

Baby Name Pondering gives us Atlas, which is a moon, a star, a comic book, a video game, and much more. They also profiled Axis, from the Wayfarer Redemption fantasy series.

Bewitching Names discussed Ceres, which is a dwarf planet.

Appellation Mountain looked in depth at Melody, the birth name of Doctor Who's River Song.

Nameberry has a post on names from the work of Neil Gaiman.

Once Upon a Time Baby names has a list of Magical Names.

Theseus

In the film Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them, Theseus Scamander was the brother of Newt Scamander. He is only mentioned in the film, as he was a famous war hero in World War I.

In the Canadian television show Continuum, Theseus is the alias of Liber8 leader Julian Randol. Along with his father, Julian has an anti-corporate agenda, believing that corporations are controlling our governments. Kiera, the protector from the future, has knowledge of horrific crimes committed by Theseus. When she learns of his true identity, she is faced with a Hitler murder paradox. In the end, she lets Julian live, but fears she may have helped create the monster he is to become.

In the Hercules: The Legendary Journeys, Theseus was a boy who was sent by his mentor, Ceridian, secure Hercules aid in stopping another student, Cassius, who was about to begin a war.

EAS Theseus was a Omega-class destroyer in Babylon 5.

The Theseus Morpho is a type of butterfly.

In Greek Mythology, Theseus killed the Minotaur in a labyrinth, using a ball of string given to him by King Minos' daughter to find his way out. In Doctor Who, the Fourth Doctor claimed that he had been the one to give the string to Theseus.

In 2012, 41 boys were given the name Theseus.

Nyssa

Nyssa was a companion of the Fifth Doctor in the television series, Doctor Who. Like the Doctor, she was the last of her kind, as her homeworld, Traken, had been destroyed. Her father Tremas, was a Consul on Traken, and she had a privileged life. She specialized in bioelectronics, and possessed a brilliant intellect. Nyssa met the Fourth Doctor when he came to Traken to stop the Master from becoming the Keeper of Traken, a powerful position that her father was heir to. Unfortunately, the Doctor was unable to prevent her father's death at the hands of the Master. The Master released waves of entropy on the universe, which destroyed Traken. After the Doctor was mortally wounded in his fight with the Master, he regenerated. While he was still recovering from his regeneration, Nyssa helped him back to the TARDIS. Since she no longer had a home to return to, she stayed in the TARDIS as his companion. She ended her travels with the Doctor at the space station Terminus, which was a treatment facility for those with Lazar's disease. Nyssa contracted the disease, so she chose to stay behind to help find a cure, which she eventually did.

Nyssa Raatko was a villain in Batman comic books. She was an illegitimate child of Ra's al Ghul, one of Batman's greatest enemies. She was born in Russia in the 19th century. She tracked her father down, and joined him until she became disenchanted by his genocidal plans. When she refused to allow her children to become his heirs, he disowned her, however, he did allow her to keep a Lazarus Pit, which gave her extreme longevity.

Nyssa Damaskinos was a vampire in the movie Blade II. She was a natural born vampire, and daughter of Eli Damaskinos.

In the Star Wars franchise, Nyssa was a planet where the Mecrosa Order arose.

The name Nyssa comes from an ancient Roman town in Turkey, and is the genus name of the Tupelo tree. Nyssa has never been in the top 1,000 names in the U.S. In 2012, 24 girls were named Nyssa.

Callisto

Callisto is one of Jupiter's moons that was discovered by Galileo. It is Jupiter's second largest moon, and is nearly as large as the planet Mercury. It is composed of equal amounts of rock and ices.

In X-Men, Callisto was a mutant who possessed superhuman senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. She was once a beautiful woman, but became scarred as a result of violent encounters with normal humans. She was the leader of the Morlocks, a group of mutants that lived in the sewers. She lost leadership of the Morlocks when Storm defeated her in a duel.  She later became a servant of the wizard Kulan Gath. When she found herself in a new timeline, she became an ally of the X-Men and even rescued Professor X. 

Callisto was a character in Xena: Warrior Princess and in Hercules: The Legendary Journeys. Callisto witnessed the death of her mother and sister at the hands of Xena, who killed them during a chaotic attack on her village. As a result of this trauma, Callisto became a ruthless and bloody warlord, who was out to get Xena. She died twice, became an immortal, then a God, then a demon, and ultimately an archdemon. 

The Callisto series was a series of science fiction novels published in the 1970s by author Lin Carter.

In Doctor Who, the Callisto Pulse was a device that could disarm micro-explosives. River Song traded a Callisto Pulse for a vortex manipulator she needed to reach the Doctor.

In Star Trek, the U.S.S. Callisto was a Federation starship, and in a Star Wars novel, Callisto was the name of an Imperial Star Destroyer.

In Greek mythology, Callisto was a nymph of Artemis. She was transformed into a bear and set among the stars. Callisto has never ranked in the top 1,000 names in the United States. In 2012, 7 girls were named Callisto in the U.S.

Hal

HAL-9000 was an artificial intelligence from 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke. HAL was short for Heuristically programmed, ALgorithmic computer. Hal was part of the computer in the Discovery One spaceship. HAL began to malfunction, and when the astronauts decided to disconnect his cognitive circuits, HAL decided to kill them. In the sequel, 2010: Odyssey Two, HAL was restarted, and his previous attempt to kill the astronauts was revealed to be due to a conflict in his programming. HAL sacrificed himself to save the astronauts, but was turned into a non-corporeal being by the monolith.

Harold 'Hal' Jordan was one of several humans to become member of the Green Lantern Corps. He was a member of the U.S. Air Force. When Abin Sur, a member of the Greeen Lantern Corps, crash landed in California, the power ring chose Hal Joran as it's replacement officer. He was one of the founding members of the Justice League. 

Hal Yorke was a vampire in the U.K. television series Being Human. He was born in the late 15th century. He went on a bloody rampage for centuries, and gained such an evil reputation that even the Old Ones were afraid of him. In the 20th century he lived with a werewolf named Leo and a ghost named Pearl. After Leo died, Pearl went with him to the afterlife, leaving Hal with another werewolf and ghost, Tom and Annie.

Halfast 'Hal' Gamgee was a Hobbit and a cousin of Samwise Gamgee in the Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien. 

Hal the Archer, and Hal Korwin where minor characters in the Doctor Who television series. 

Hal is typically a nickname for Harold or Henry. As a stand alone name it is not very popular. In 2011, only 15 boys were named Hal.

April 2013 Rounup

Here's my monthly round up of posts from other baby name sites for April!

Baby Name Pondering had a long post on the Doctor's newest companion, Clara. I thought about profiling Clara myself, but I wanted to see how the character developed, since so much about her is still a mystery. They also profiled Khaleesi, from George R. R. Martin's A Song of Ice and Fire series, aka Game of Thrones. Never having read the books or seen the television show, I found it an enlightening read.

Naming the Fishes talks about the historical origins of Idris, and discusses Lore, which is known to Trekkies as the name of Data's brother from Star Trek: The Next Generation.

Nameberry shares a list of inventors, both famous and obscure, as possible namesakes. Some of the choices here are a bit odd. You really have to love coffee to name your kid after the guy who invented coffee filters.

My Name is Pabst introduces their March Madness winner, Severus Danger. Looks like this adorable lad is already working on his namesake's sneer.

Waltzing More Than Matilda has a great in depth post on Thor. I prefer the female version, Thora, myself. 

For Real Baby Names found a girl named Saturn Marie.  

British Baby names profiled Freya, which has several geeky references. In Stargate SG-1, Freya was a woman who as host to a Tok'ra symbiote. There's a character in Final Fantasy IX named Freya Crescent. There is a main belt asteroid named 76 Freia, and a Swedish satellite named Freja.
 

Merry

In the Doctor Who franchise, Merry Galel was an inhabitant of Akhaten. She was known as the Queen of Years, and was a Sun-singer of the long song. The song was continuously sung by various singers to appease the sleeping Old God. The Doctor's companion, Clara, encountered Merry when she was running away because she feared she would make a mistake. Clara convinced her that she would be able to complete her task and convinced her to return. While Merry was singing, the Old God awoke, and took her as a sacrifice. The Doctor and Clara rescued her and convinced her that she did not need to sacrifice herself to appease the Old God.

Merry was the nickname of Meriadoc Brandybuck in the Lord of the Rings trilogy. He was a Hobbit and one of the Fellowship of the Ring. At Gondor, he became a squire to Théoden. He helped Éowyn kill the Witch King of Angmar. He was awarded a knighthood for his bravery. 

Merry Pemberton was a character in the D.C. Comics universe.

Merry is an English name that means 'Happy'. Merry appeared in the SSA's top 1000 names for most years between 1920 and 1969, but hasn't ranked since then. It ranked highest in 1954 when it was #468. In 2011, the name Merry was given to just 15 girls.

Gallifrey

In the Doctor Who franchise, the planet Gallifrey is the homeworld of the Doctor, and his race, the Time Lords. The word Gallifrey means "They that walk in the shadows". It was located in the constellation of Kasterborous. Kasterborous was also known as the Seven Systems, and Gallifrey was sometimes called "the Shining World of the Seven Systems". It was destroyed and recreated multiple times, lastly by the Doctor during the Last Great Time War.

Gallifrey does not appear in the Social Security Adminstation's database. It sounds similar to some surnames, so it might blend in with the current surname as first name trend. I think it's better left to the middle name spot.

Idris

Idris was the name of a woman who became host to the living consiousness of the TARDIS in Doctor Who. Idris lived on an asteroid inhabited by an entity, House, that fed on the artron energy of TARDISes. House tricked the Doctor into coming to the asteroid, then he removed the living matrix of the TARDIS and placed it in the body of Idris. Her body could not live very long with the matrix inside, but the Doctor managed to get Idris back to the control room of the TARDIS before she died. As she died, the matrix was released back into the TARDIS. 

Idris Hopper was also the name of a minor character in Doctor Who. He was the secretary to the mayor of Cardiff who was taken over by the Slitheen. 

Idris was also the name of an operating system available from 1979 to 1988. 

Idris is a name of Welsh origin that means 'ardent lord'. Although it can be used for both boys and girls, it is primarily used for boys. It is also the name of a prophet in the Qur'an. In 2011, 114 boys were given the name in the United States. It did not rank for girls.

Trinity

Trinity was the female lead of the Matrix franchise. After She escaped from the Matrix, Trinity became first mate on the Nebuchadnezzar. The Oracle told her that she would fall in love with The One, or Neo. In the first movie, she revived the dead Neo with a kiss. In the Matrix Reloaded, Neo returned the favor and revived her after she is shot in the Matrix. In the final installment, the Matrix Revolutions, Trinity was killed in the real world when she was impaled by power cables.

Trinity Wells was the name of a News reporter in the Doctor Who franchise. She has appeared in Doctor Who, Torchwood, and The Sarah Jane Adventures.

Trinity was the name of a little known science fiction film from 2001. 

Blade: Trinity was the third film in the Blade triolgy. The triology stars Wesley Snipes as a vampire superhero.

Trinity was also the name of a 1986 video game. 

Trinity was the name of a villain in the D.C. comics universe. She was a android woman that housed a computer virus with three faces which represented Time, War and Chaos.

In the Team Tejas comic, Trinity was a superhero who had the ability to create three clones of herself.

Trinity was the 77th most popular girl's name in 2011. The name also refers to the Holy Trinity of the Catholic church, and most usage probably related to the religion.

River

River Tam was the younger sister of Dr. Simon Tam on the series Firefly. She was a prodigy, and was sent to a private school which turned out to be a government experiment in creating the perfect assassin. After decoding a secret message she sent to him, Simon rescued her, and they both became fugitives. They took refuge on Serenity, with Simon becoming the ship's medic. Due to the experimentation on her mind, River had violent outbursts of emotion and psychic abilities. She was also incredibly skilled in hand to hand combat, performing in ways that no normal human could. 

River Song was a character in the modern version of Doctor Who. River was actually named Melody Pond, and was the daughter of Amelia Pond and Rory Williams. Melody's name was translated to River Song by Lorna Bucket of the Gamma Forest. Pond wasn't translatable because the only water in the forest was the river. River was kidnapped as an infant and trained to kill the Doctor. She escaped and grew up alongside her parents as their childhood friend. She and the Doctor kept meeting each other out of order, and she kept a journal of their meetings. She spent much of her time in prison, which she routinely escaped from and returned to. She was imprisoned for killing the Doctor, although it ended up being just a replica of him. The first time the Doctor met her was when she died, having sacrificed herself to save others trapped in a Library computer. The Doctor saved her by transferring her consciousness to the computer where she was able to live forever in a simulation. 

In 2011, River ranked at #424 for boys, and was #913 for girls.

Rory

Rory is an Irish name with a long history that I won't go into here.

For Whovians, it's the 11th Doctor's companion, Rory Arthur Williams, husband of Amy Pond. Rory is a nurse who is killed, then reincarnated as a Roman Centurion robot who devotedly guards Amy in the Pandorica for thousands of years. In Dr. Who, he's the ultimate nice guy, and it's wonderful to see the nice guy finally get the girl!

Rory gets a brief mention in the Hunger Games Trilogy as the younger brother of Gale Hawthorne.

You'll find Rory's in comics too. In the Marvel Universe, he's Ahab, aka, Dr. Roderick 'Rory' Campbell. Rory Regan, aka Ragman, is from a short lived D.C. Comic of the same name. 

Although Rory is a male name, it's seeing increased use for girls, both as a stand alone name and a nickname for Aurora. In 2011, it ranked at #599 for Boys, and at #903 for Girls.