Janus

In Stargate, Janus was an ancient scientist. He lived in Atlantis, and was one of the Lantean survivors who escaped to Earth. Janus used unorthodox methods, and his controversial experiments and inventions were often done in defiance of the Lantean Council.
In I Am Number Four, Janus was a pilot and member of the Lorien Defence Council. He piloted the ship that brought the chosen Garde to Earth.

In Men In Black, Janus was an INS agent that was neuralized by Kay and Dee.

In Warehouse 13, the Janus Coin was used to separate a person's consiousness from their physical form.

The feminist science fiction 'fanzine', Janus, was published from 1975 to 1980.

Saturn has a moon named Janus.

There are two programming languages that bear the nameJanus. Microsoft used the name as a codename for Windows 3.1x, and as a codename for a portable version of Windows Media Digital Rights Management (DRM). There is a speech recognition program named Janus.

In biology, a Janus-faced molecule can have both beneficial and toxic effects.

Janus particles are nano particles that have two different physical properties.

The name Janus comes from a two-faced Roman God. He looked to the future and the past, and was the god of beginnings and endings. The name for the month of January is derived from Janus. I love this name, but I think the name is problematic for boys because it sounds too similar to the girl's name Janice. It would work well for a pet though. It has never ranked in the top 1,000 names in the U.S., and does not appear in the database for 2014.

Griffin

Griffin was the main character in H.G. Well's The Invisible Man. He was a brilliant young scientist who managed to make himself invisible, but he was unable to reverse the process. When he is discovered, he becomes involved in a violent conflict with villagers. He eventually turns to a former professor for help. The professor betrays him, and he is hunted down and killed. After he is killed, he becomes visible again.

Griffin was also a character in the 2008 movie Jumper. Griffin did not appear in the novel that the movie was based on, and was created just for the film. Steven Gould, who wrote Jumper, worked with the film makers to write Jumper: Griffin's Story as a prequel to the novel. There is also video game based on the character. The movie's protagonist was David Rice, who had the ability to teleport anywhere in the world. He, and others like him were considered dangerous and were hunted down by Paladins who wanted to kill all who had the ability. David discovered another jumper named Griffin, who wanted to kill the paladins as much as they wanted to kill him. Griffin tried to kill the paladins with a bomb in the apartment of Millie, David's girlfriend. David trapped Griffin in power lines in a war zone in Chechnya, and that was the last we saw of him.

In Men in Black 3, Griffin was an alien who had the ability to see all possible futures. He also possessed the ArcNet, a shield which was the key to saving the Earth. He helped Agents K and J set the timeline right after Boris the Animal went back in time and changed it.

Griffin can also be a subtle nod to Gryffindor, one of the Houses of Hogwarts, named after Godric Gryffindor.

The classical griffin was a legendary creature with the body of a lion and the head and wings of an eagle.

Griffin was the 227th most popular boy's name in 2011. Except for some sporadic use in the late 1800s and the first decade of the 20th century, Griffin made it permanently in the top 1000 names in the US in 1983, and has steadily climbed the ranks ever since.